Harry Potter and the Third Age
by HarryMotouPotter
Summary: Harry has just won the 2nd wizarding war against Voldemort, the Wizarding World views him a hero, but he just wants some peace, away from everything, so much so that he wishes for it. Well, you know what they say about wishing on a star… HP/Hobbit/Lord of the Rings Crossover Super, Powerful, Elemental Harry Honks for the first chapter or two. NOT slash
1. Prologue

AN: Hello! Harry Potterheads and Lord of the Rings fans, welcome to my new fictions…. HARRY POTTER AND THE THIRD AGE! Now I know some of you will be wondering what happened to my other story, the HP and Yugioh crossover called 'Harry Potter and the Game of the Gods'? DON'T WORRY! I'm not stopping it, in fact I might get another chapter out tonight, who knows. But I wanted to do something a little different, you know, branch out a bit more, and as well as HP and YGO crossovers I also like HP and LOTR crossovers so I thought I'd do one, hope you enjoy the first chapter!

Prologue

Harry's first thought upon walking back into Diagon Alley after exiting Gringotts bank with a trunk full of all his money, was that of apprehension. This was the first time he had been out to Diagon Alley since his defeat of the Dark Lord Voldemort during the final battle (he had flooed into Gringotts from the Burrow), which had been staged over one horrible night at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. As he wandered through the cobbled streets he thought back to his multiple trips to the wizarding shopping street and he felt a sort of melancholy. 7 years ago he had walked the same path as a clueless 11 year old boy who had just been told the best information any sane 11 year old could get. He was a wizard. What young boy would not get excited at the prospect.

He spent his first couple of years at Hogwarts pretending to be the naïve little Gryffindor that everyone expected him to be. Of course, why not give the people what they expect, might keep them of his back. That's right, little Harry Potter did learn how to lie and deceive during 11 hellish years with the Dursleys, I mean, how could you not. If he hadn't been able to lie like he did then Vernon would have done a lot worse to him than lock him in a cupboard without any food. The things Harry did were probably better forgotten. Mostly big pranks and just generally getting on their nerves whilst maintaining complete and utter innocence. He was good. And he knew it.

He only really lost his composure during his 5th year, but that was more due to Voldemort inside his head than him. The bloody Dementor situation wouldn't have even happened if he wasn't so stupidly sentimental as to carry his Holly and Phoenix wand around rather than the Elder Wand which he had acquired on a trip to Ollivanders for a second wand during the summer before his 3rd year. Who knew that Dumbledore had a fake, a powerful fake, but a fake nonetheless. (AN: I know it's cliché to give Harry the Elder Wand but I want him to be as powerful as possible) Ollivander had apparently received it off a mysterious stranger and was told to keep it a secret until the rightful heir came along to claim it. Obviously that happened to be Harry, he seemed to be at the centre of everything. Not that he was complaining this time of course, that wand was incredibly freaking powerful and it didn't have the trace on it. That's how Harry had been practicing every summer, did they really thing a 15 year old with hardly any training could take on a bunch of inner circle Death Munchers and live to tell the tale. 'Morons' Harry thought.

But now after he had defeated the Dark Tosser he had increased his skill to an unimaginable level. During the hunt for Horcrux's he'd discovered a book just lying there in the Forest of Dean. The book detailed how to find out if you were an elemental, and what element you could control, obviously as Harry was special, he could control all conceivable elements, but again, he was not complaining. Although there was no need to use those powers in the final battle because defeating Voldemort in a duel was, dare he say it, easy. It was everyone that they lost was the topic that was almost constantly on his mind these days. Remus, Fred… even little Colin Creevey had perished. Tonks had survived, thank god. During the walk through the forest he had seen his parents, Sirius and Remus. He'd promised Remus to look after Tonks. Harry was confused when Sirius grinned and winked at him, but he put it out of his head to continue on the task. Now that he had time to think about it. He couldn't help but think of Tonks. She had never treated him like a child, even though they'd barely spoken to each other, she was beautiful, anyone with eyes could see that, her personality never failed to put a smile on Harry's face. The way she could make the best out of any situation, since Remus' death she had been rather torn up, but always put a brave face on when Harry came round to see his godson, Teddy. Teddy, that's who Harry really felt sorry for, he knew what it was like to grow up without a dad, it was horrible without the guidance and joy that a father should bring. Harry thanked the higher powers that Teddy still had his mother and Andromeda to look after him. Maybe his life wouldn't be as bad as Harry's. 'Correction,' he thought 'It's definitely going to be better than mine'

He walked through the newly refurnished Alley and visited many shops along the way to get things he may need. You see Harry had been having this strange feeling that something was going to happen soon. He called it his sort of sixth sense, Tonks had called it his incessant paranoia, did he mention that she was funny like that? Yes. Well, anyway, he had taken to carrying round a shrunken trunk with all of his valuables in just incase he was whisked off anywhere or if he was kidnapped by some bitter Death Eaters. The reason he had now got all of his money with him was that the feeling had increased one hundred fold that very morning. He decided it was better to be safe than sorry. He had invited Tonks around that evening with Teddy just in case anything strange did happen to him, you may be asking, why are you potentially putting Tonks and Teddy in danger? Well, the feeling Harry had been having wasn't a malevolent feeling so he didn't believe it to be dangerous as such, which was why he wasn't freaking out and having every ward known to man on Grimmauld Place where he had been staying until he could get a new house for himself, he would have stayed in Potter Manor but he couldn't do that until it had been thoroughly cleaned by the house elves there, 20 years of dust accumulates.

And so he finished his shopping and apperated back to the house, he walked in through the front door and into the living room to find Tonks and Teddy sitting on the ground playing with one of Teddy's favourite toys, his stuffed Werewolf that Harry had gotten him (by owl mail of course). Harry just watched them for a minute, they didn't seem to be aware of his presence, he decided to have a little fun, he got out his invisibility cloak very quietly and draped it over himself. Slowly he walked towards them and sat down on the sofa watching them from the side. Then quick as a flash he wipped his cloak off. His sudden appearance caused Tonks to scream and Teddy to start giggling madly. He'd make a great prankster one day.

"HARRY JAMES POTTER!" Tonks screamed after she had regained her wits. "I THOUGHT WE AGREED NOT TO DO THAT ANYMORE!" Harry and Teddy looked at her, then at each other, then back to her, then back to each other again and promptly dissolved into laughter. Tonks just huffed and crossed her arms. Then a mischievous smile spread across her face causing both boy's laughter to die out. Teddy was now smiling at Harry as if he knew what was about to happen. Harry was looking decidedly nervous. Tonks slowly got up as Harry started to back away.

"Well you know Harry," she said in an innocent voice moving towards him "I was actually looking forward to seeing you, you see there has been something I've been meaning to do…" her voice turned husky at the end as Harry reached the wall and could go back no further.

"Umm… I-I… you h-have, have you?" Harry stuttered out nervously as Tonks grabbed his shirt and leaned in an inch away from his face.

"Yes, yes I have.." she said. Harry thought that it was quite hot in there and was preparing himself, but Tonks had different ideas as she put her hands on his sides and started….

Tickling him.

Harry gasped and fell down on the floor laughing, Tonks straddled him and continued tickling him.

"No! NO! I g-g-give! Uncle! Uncle!" Harry gasped. Tonks smirked. It was then that they noticed that their faces were inches apart. Tonks looked confused for a moment before she slowly leaned in. Harry wasn't sure what to do next so he just let her come to him. Their lips met.

It was unlike anything Harry had ever experienced before, there were literally sparks as she kissed him softly, kissing Cho had been a disappointment as she'd spent most of it weeping, Ginny had been fiery as they tried to devour each other's mouths but with Tonks it just felt, dare he say it….right. Before it could get too heated in front of Teddy who was watching in what seemed like the baby version of amusement, they broke apart, both with a contented sigh. They both smiled at each other and Tonks laid her head on Harry's chest, both enjoying the moment. Then of course Teddy no longer found this game interesting so started to cry. Tonks sighed and got up off Harry and went over to Teddy where she calmed him down enough to start playing again. Harry got up and smiled at the two.

"I'm guessing this means we're together then?" he said. Completely forgetting the ominous feeling he had been having.

She got up and kissed him again. "What do you think?" she asked after they broke with a smile. Harry just grinned.

"I'll take that as a yes?" he said. She grinned back. "I'm just going to go and have a shower then I'll be back okay?" Harry said. She nodded and he left the room.

The whole afternoon was spent with the three playing games with Teddy, eating lunch, going for a walk through the local park and a bit of snogging between Harry and Tonks, Teddy no longer found it funny after the tenth time so it wasn't as much as Harry might have liked, but he wasn't complaining. After they had laid Teddy down for bed they went back into the kitchen. Harry saw the Daily Prophet lying on the table. With a big advert in the centre which said in bold '**500 GALLEONS FOR A PICTURE OF HARRY POTTER**'. The man himself sighed wearily, there goes what was left of his privacy. Tonks rubbed his back soothingly.

"Hey, look at it this way, no one will reject you when you offer them a place in your harem!" she stated cheerfully. Harry who had been drinking a glass of pumpkin juice started choking on it.

"WHAT!" he exclaimed after he got his fit under control. Tonks burst out laughing.

"That's what you get for scaring me earlier!" she said triumphantly. Harry pouted.

"Minx" he muttered. Tonks just grinned.

After Tonks had gone to bed (they had decided earlier that there was really no point in leaving, she had pretty much moved in then and there), Harry decided that he needed time to think about things. He got out of the king sized bed Tonks had insisted they shared, not that Harry was complaining, and made his way up to his little sanctuary outside on the roof. It wasn't very complex, just a comfortable place to lay in the centre with an amazing view of the sky. Harry liked to have the lamp posts down on the street below out on nights like this when you could see millions of stars. So he just used magic of course. Mainly the deluminator that Ron had lend to him. He laid down in the centre and just observed the universe above.

Harry loved it like this, so peaceful and quiet, where there was nobody who would hound him for pictures or autographs. He closed his eyes, enjoying the feeling on his senses. Then he did something that would change his life. Just as a shooting star raced over him in the night sky he said.

"I wish I could be someplace where I wasn't known"

That simple line set into motion events that would change Harry's life forever. With a flash, Harry James Potter, Boy-Who-Lived, Vanquisher of Voldemort….

Vanished.

AN: Oooooohhhhhhh, what's gonna happen next? Hey guys thanks for reading the first chapter of my new fanfic, if you could review it I would be most appreciative, thank you again and see you in the next chapter! BYE!


	2. Where am I?

AN: Hey guys, I'm sorry for the lack of updates this week, one word. Coursework. Coursework, coursework, coursework. It's horrible and I just haven't had time to write. Please forgive me. Anyway, enjoy this new chapter of my HP/LOTR crossover!

Chapter 1 - Where am I?

Harry stirred grogily. Starting to wake up from a pitiful's night's sleep.

'Whoever hit me over the head with a bludger is going to pay' he thought to himself painfully. The last thing he remembered was laying out on the roof of Grimmauld Place. He must have fallen asleep there. Yes. That's why the ground was so hard, funny, he didn't remember there being grass up on the roof… 'Hmm..' he thought, still not willing to open his eyes to the temporary blindness which would be inevitable. 'I've gotta get up some time' he thought. Slowly his eyes flittled open and then immediately shut again when bombarded with the first light of day.

"I knew that wouldn't be a good idea" he said to himself out loud. He jumped and his eyes sprang open when he heard a voice say something in a peculiar language. He looked around and saw probably the strangest, and yet most beautiful, girl he'd ever seen. He mentally berated himself for thinking that and reminded himself that he was now with Tonks. That thought brought him back to his situation.

He was in a forest.

Then the memory of the ominous feeling he had been having came back to him. Quickly he checked his pockets and found to his relief that he had all his things with him, thank god for his sixth sense. He discretely took out his wand so the girl wouldn't see and cast a translation charm on himself. He'd have to thank Hermione for insisting that he learnt that one. He turned back to the girl and was once again caught breathless at how pretty she was. She stood at about Harry's height and had long flowing blond hair that cascaded down to about her chest which Harry had to force himself not to look at, he didn't want to be rude, plus he had a girlfriend who would kill him for even thinking about it. Anyway. She had quite high cheekbones which gave her an amazingly elegant look. Her eyes where a bright emerald green, exactly like his own. She was wearing a long white dress which looked like it had been woven from unicorn hair. Harry looked at her face again and their eyes locked. Harry looked for different emotions to identify in her eyes, the most prominent he found was suspicion, which he thought was understandable considering his clothes apparently weren't what was worn often in this place, oh, and also the fact that he just appeared out of nowhere. That she might find a bit weird. He also saw a hint of curiosity which again he understood, but the emotion that confused him was that his arrival seemed to be pushing back a bit of sadness that had been there.

Finally after Harry broke their staring contest he slowly got up so as not to look threatening, brushed himself and held out a hand to the girl.

"Harry Potter, please to meet you, may I ask where we are?" he said. He found that he was speaking in the same language the girl had spoken, it seemed to roll off the tongue quite well and seemed to have a few words which Harry could attribute to Latin but it obviously wasn't. She seemed to relax a bit now that she knew he spoke her language but was still tense.

"Daeual Clairor, but people call me Dee" she said shyly whilst tucking a strand of blond hair behind her ear. This made Harry jump, because he had just noticed that this girl had pointed ears.

An elf.

Harry, of course, knew that some sort of elves existed. But they were small creatures who's purpose was to serve, this girl looked like one of those proper elves out of those fantasy books Harry had read after stealing them from Dudley and whilst sitting in his cupboard during long days. What was the name of that one book he loved above all others called again. Oh yeah, "Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkein". He'd loved that book more than anything. He'd spend long days fantasizing about going to a place like Middle Earth and meeting people like Gandalf and Frodo. But alas, those fantasies were not to be. And yet, as he looked at the girl again, she seemed similar to the typical elf in the small part of the films that Harry had got a glimpse of after his Uncle had fallen asleep on the couch one night while watching it. Stupid oaf. Anyway, the girl opened her mouth to reply to his question when she stopped and considered what it was, then looked at him with some confusion and more than a little suspicion.

"Rivendell" she said carefully. Harry's head snapped to her instantly.

"We're where?" he said evenly.

"Rivendell" she said again, but this time as if talking to a small child.

Harry blanched. He couldn't be….could he? No. He refused to believe that he was in some made up world by an author. It just couldn't be possible. Fiction was fiction. Fiction was something made up in the heads of somebody with an amazing imagination. Fiction was something invented for little kids to read to keep them entertained. Fiction….. Fiction. Was. Not. Real.

And yet….

He decided to try something to see if he would get some sort of response from the girl….Dee.

"If we really are in Rivendell then may I please speak to Lord Elrond" he asked. Confident that she wouldn't have a clue who he was on about and that the name of the place was just a coincidence. That confidence died with the next sentence.

"Of course, follow me…" she then turned and walked away. Harry could only gape for a moment before he ran up to catch her. As soon as he caught up to her they walked in silence. It was only slightly awkward as of course Dee was still slightly suspicious of Harry.

As they came to what appeared to be the edge of the forest, Harry saw what had to be one of the most beautiful places he had ever seen. Rivendell. It was even better in real life as it was in the films. A huge house made completely out of white marble. Carved intricately to form amazing pieces of artwork. The cliffs on either side of them, which Harry was surprised he had not seen before, only accentuated the feeling of calm and peace that it was prominently described as having in the books. He looked around in awe. His amazement didn't go unnoticed as Dee got a soft smile on her face.

"Lot's of people react like that the first time they arrive here" she said quietly, almost peacefully. Harry looked at her.

"You live here?" he asked curiously. The answer was obvious but he wanted to start a conversation.

"Yes," she said softly. "I live here with my carer" Harry thought he caught a bit of bitterness in her tone but decided not to press as Harry had never liked being pressed about family.

"It is very beautiful" he replied. She sighed.

"I wish I could say the same for all the people" she said quietly, not expecting Harry to hear, he heard, but ignored it for now.

"Now where were we?" she said suddenly breaking the silence that had stretched. "Oh yes, you wanted to see Elrond" and so they set off up the staircase towards what looked like the main hall.

It was nearly as impressive inside as it was outside. Lavish rugs, beautiful plush chairs and more marble carved into even more intricate designs.

Dee lead him to a door. She turned to him.

"Wait here" she ordered. Harry obeyed whilst she opened the door and walked inside.

He didn't know how long he waited for, but not long after a man, or elf, who was obviously Lord Elrond appeared in the doorway. He was taller than Harry by a couple of inches, his black hair reaching down to his shoulders. Bright blue eyes observed him curiously, if a bit wearily. His long robe was embroidered with fine designs, looking better than any Hogwarts robe he'd ever had, but that wasn't all that hard.

"Who are you?" he asked politely, if again cautiously.

"My name is Harry Potter Lord Elrond Sir" he said while bowing as he thought was right. Elrond looked quite surprised, but only for a moment before his face was a mask of suspicion.

"I have never heard the name 'Harry' in all my years in Middle Earth, were are you from mortal, the North perhaps?" he said. Harry felt rather offended at the word mortal, but then he assumed that it was in elvin nature to be a bit snobbish. Nevertheless he replied.

"That was actually what I wanted to talk to you about"

Elrond looked confused for a second but he eventually he stood aside and beckoned Harry in. Harry walked in, Dee was stood in the corner of the room looking beautiful as ever, again he chastised himself.

"So, 'Harry Potter', you wanted to speak to me about from where you have come?" Elrond said.

Harry nodded "You see, I know this may sound quite unbelievable, but I'm not from Middle Earth"

AN: Hey guys, hope you enjoyed this new chapter, there should be a new GotG (Game of the Gods) chapter out tonight so look out for that, see ya in the next chapter! BYE!


	3. Reactions and A Home

AN: Yo everyone, thanks for being so patient with me, I've been having a bad case of writer's block this week, anyway, I hope you enjoy this new chapter! See you in a bit!

Chapter 2 - Reactions and A Home

Elrond blinked. Then blinked again. Whatever he had been expecting the strange young man to say, it hadn't been that. For the umpteenth time that day he tensed, this must be some sort of trick by the enemy to make him take his guard down. He looked again at the man and again he was surprised to see nothing but the truth in his face. He had a smile on his face which suggested he knew that Elrond was having trouble believing him.

Harry almost laughed at the comical expression on the Lord's face but remembered at the last second who this was. As a child he had always wanted to meet one of the elven people, the way they were described in the book made them sound like the most amazing beings. Maybe a bit snobbish, but hey, nothing he couldn't handle. He had dealt with Malfoy for 6 years. He looked over to where Dee was standing and she looked at them with the same amusement that Harry felt. Looking back to Elrond who had obviously come to a conclusion as to what path to take.

"How do I know you aren't some spy employed by Sauron?" he asked slightly angrily. Harry looked him dead in the eye.

"Can you not sense it?" he answered. Elrond looked contemplative before finally nodding.

"Yes, you do not have an ounce of darkness within you, there is something I can sense still lingering, but it is fading fast, where are you from? If not Middle Earth?" he asked.

"I'm from a world where men are one of only a couple of intelligent beings, a world where things are a lot more advanced, a world of magic" he said. Elrond's eyes widened.

"You cannot be an Istari, you are but a child, only full grown adults are given the priveledge of magical powers by the Valar" he said confidently. Harry bristled at being called a child.

"I understand your surprise my Lord," Harry said through gritted teeth "But I am not, nor have I ever been a child, unless you consider something like I've experienced as a childhood, but that is neither here nor there, for I know only solid proof will get you to believe what I say"

Whilst saying that he had slowly gotten out his wand, at the end of his mini speech he revealed it and swished it in a sweeping motion. The next moment there was a glass in his hand, and then he muttered the Aguamenti charm and water poured out of the tip of the Elder Wand. It had taken Harry a fair while to gain control over the mythical wand, too much power for it's own good, the first time he'd tried the Aguamenti charm he'd near on flooded the Dursley's house. It had been a fair while since he'd seen his uncle's face turn that shade of purple, it was truly spectacular. Anyway.

Elrond couldn't believe his eyes, a mere child held powers most people could only dream of, he had not even seen Gandalf do magic that simply and easily, usually he thought magic involved long incantations, but here was a boy who was doing it soundlessly. He opened and closed his mouth a few times before he remembered where he was and more particularly who he was. He composed himself and looked at the young man in question.

"Well," he started carefully. "That was informative, now, the question that I have is….why are you here?"

Harry had been expecting this. "Well, if I'm honest with you, I don't really know"

Elrond blinked again.

Harry continued "I was laying out on top of my house and fell asleep, waking up I find myself in a world I have never seen nor heard of before" Of course, he couldn't let on that he knew everything about how the story would go, where would be the fun in that. All he had to do was prevent as many people dying as he had read.

Elrond looked contemplative for a moment before turning to Harry with a small smile. "I sense no evil or darkness about you, you seem to have had a hard life, judging by the look in your eyes, but I won't pry into that, but you look as though you could use some peace, am I right?" Harry could only gape. How had the man read him so easily? He had practised keeping all emotions off of his face when was necessary. Elrond continued, not waiting for an answer.

"And since I am feeling in a good mood, I want to offer you a sanctuary until you figure out a was to return to your own world, but rest assured you will be pulling your weight, we don't house for free you know" he said with a small smirk. Harry had a feeling he was enjoying this.

Harry thought for a moment, before coming to a decision.

"I accept your generous offer Lord Elrond, of course I will pull my weight as much as you desire" he said. Elrond smiled.

"Good, now, Daeuel, please show Mr Potter around, I'm sure he would like to get to know he new home" Harry smiled at her, and to his amusement, she blushed and looked away.

"Of course my Lord" she mumbled quietly and ushered Harry out of the room.

They spent the rest of the day wondering around the Rivendell grounds and talking. Harry found out that Dee was in a similar situation to himself, dead parents, lack of care, though not to the extent of Harry, and a desire to find the right place for herself in the world. Albeit a rather different world to the one Harry knew. And so after a full afternoon of non stop talking and wandering Harry bade Dee goodnight and she did the same.

That night Harry couldn't seem to sleep properly, in the end he decided to go for another walk. Wandering out of his new room, which was far more luxurious than anything he had ever had before, even non of the rooms at Hogwarts compared to it, he wandered down to the semi-circular alcove in the very heart of Rivendell. As he got to the middle he saw something he'd imagined seeing lots as a child.

The Broken Sword of Isildur.

It was just how it was in the film, shattered into many pieces, lying on a podium in the shape of an angel. He walked up to it and touched the smooth blade, careful not to be cut on it's sharp edge. He didn't know how long it would be before he could accomplish what he wanted, but he imagined that it would be quite a while yet, and he intended to enjoy the time he was there in peace. Maybe even find a place he could call home more than Hogwarts, oh he would have to go back home one day, he missed Tonks and Teddy already, but old wounds that still needed healing could have the chance to do just that in the peace of Middle Earth. As he looked out over the ground and up to the nights sky he smiled softly to himself.

Yes. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to stay here, for a while anyway.

AN: Phew, you have no idea how difficult that was, not because it was a particularly complex chapter, but because I couldn't think how I wanted to write it, and everything that did come into my head sounded really cheesy, anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, see you later!


	4. Authors Note - Update on Story

Hello Everyone! Just a quick update, I am finally in the process of writing the next chapter, but I just wanted to get your guys opinions. Would you like a time hop to the time when Frodo gets stabbed in Weathertops, or would you like something completely different, after all it is the Third Age, I never said when in the third age it was, maybe I could have Harry meeting a certain company and a rather unwilling hobbit... Review to tell me your opinions and I'll take them into consideration. Thanks and I'll see you soon in this story! BYE!


	5. This could be a problem

AN: Hey Guys! Thanks for reviewing that little Authors Note I put, I really like hearing you guy's opinions! I have taken them all into consideration and have decided that Harry is going to….well, you'll have to read on to find out! Haha, this chapter may get a bit confusing, but I'm just trying to fill in some gaps, enjoy!

Chapter 3 - This could be a problem

Harry moved through the trees stealthily, undetected by all creatures and any roaming orcs that may have been out. It had been years now since his abrupt and altogether surprising entrance into Middle Earth.

During his early days when he resided in Elrond's home at Rivendell he had laid low, there was no one outside the last Homely House that knew he was even there. Things stayed like that for a while, with him pulling his weight, doing chores around and just generally getting to know the goings on of Rivendell and the outside world.

He had learned that he had landed in a time of peace.

Which to him was a godsend.

But he knew it wouldn't last. After a couple of years without venturing outside of the safety of the valley he couldn't take it any more. He needed something to do. He needed to see the world. Or as much of it that wasn't covered in darkness anyway.

He wanted to see the innocent beauty of the Shire, the majesty of Minas Tirith and the vast plains of land that were housed in the kingdom of Rohan. But first he had needed essentials.

Elrond, despite his earlier suspicion of Harry, or as he was known in Rivendell, Elerossë, had warmed up to the young wizard during their many conversations. You could even go so far as to say he thought of Elerossë like a son.

The first time he had told Harry this there had been a few tears. Harry had chastised himself later for being so childish, he wasn't a kid anymore.

He still had his moments when he missed Tonks and Teddy lots, but as of yet he had not found any logical way of returning to his world. He'd all but given up by now.

Elrond had given him an Elvish sword which glowed blue when Orcs were near, like Sting, a bow with elven string with top quality arrows as well. He had also managed to carve his own pocket knife which had aided him in many an encounter. That and all the food he could carry in his trunk he was ready.

But his departure didn't go exactly as planned.

Him and Dee had also gotten closer during his stay at Rivendell. But unlike him, she truly belonged in Rivendell, despite her questionable carers, which Harry had met once and decided straight away that he didn't like them. They reminded him of the Malfoys, rude and snobbish. So he had resolved to spend more time with Dee. She seemed to appreciate it.

There had been many tears from her and even an argument when Harry had announced that he was leaving. He hadn't spoken to her again before he left. It killed him to leave her, but he didn't really belong there. He needed to find a place where he could fit in, either that or a place where he could relax and just do all the things he'd never been able to because of his messed up life.

So he decided he'd build his own house, and not just a house like the one the Dursleys had, but a mansion. Obviously he didn't need all that space but he decided that didn't mean he couldn't find things he'd always wanted to try in the muggle world to put in it. He had a bowling alley, a games room, he even had his own multi-sports room. It was every teenager's dream. Trouble is….

Harry wasn't a teenager anymore.

He mused ironically whilst continuing to make his way through the forest, not only was he 26 now, but he never had the chance to be a proper kid. All his teenage life he had been thrown into situations where the only option was to fight. 'But maybe that's just how my life is doomed to be' he thought sadly.

During his years in Middle Earth he had not aged a single day, perhaps that had something to do with the Deathly Hallows. One spring morning back in Rivendell he'd woken up in his room to find the object he'd thought he'd never see again lying on his bedside table. The Resurrection Stone. He'd picked it up and instantly a warm feeling washed over him kind of like the first time he'd picked up a wand, he felt new, refreshed even.

Since that day almost 11 years ago he had not aged at all.

Anyway, once he'd finished building his mansion he'd spent about a year doing all the things he'd never been able to. He'd taken up things like running, he hadn't realised how unfit he was until he had only been able to run half a mile before he had to stop. He'd beaten his own bowling record about a hundred times. He'd even done 1000 kick ups with a football.

But it wasn't worth accomplishing all these things if you had no one to share it with. That's when he left again.

This time he really did go and see the world. Literally. And along the way he'd met many new people, new friends, new allies…new enemies. He'd met King Thranduil and his son Legolas whilst chasing some spiders, or they may have been Acromantulas, he wasn't sure, into the forests of Mirkwood.

The spiders worried him somewhat.

"There were no spiders in the Lord of the Rings series were there?" he had said to himself. "Well, other than Shelob in the paths on the way into Mordor" he had corrected himself. That had given him a nightmare or two when he was younger.

But then again he'd only read the series once or twice. Maybe he missed something or just couldn't remember it. That was another thing, his memory of the books was virtually non-existent after a couple of years, he only remembered the important events.  
He'd also met the King of Rohan, Fengel, when he had decided to set course for the grasslands. He'd decided that he also didn't like Fengel. He was a king who thrived on gold and power, his greed for it astonished Harry for it was almost overwhelming. He could definitely sympathise with his son Thengel who, from what he could gather from the mans angry mumblings, had grown tired of his fathers greed and had moved to the land of Gondor. If he had to be honest, Harry would have done the same.

Speaking of Gondor he had only had the privilege of seeing the magnificent city of Minas Tirith once in his time there. It was incredible. Just as he had imagined it. Gleaming white towers which had been intricately carved into different shapes stood many feet tall, overshadowing the vast plain where Harry knew, one day, there would be a ferocious battle. It was in this place, right at the start of his journey, that he had learned the full extent of his problems.

While lodging with the then Steward of Gondor, Turgon, who he had met whilst shopping for some souvenirs and instantly took a liking to, he learnt that not only was there Orcs roaming the lands day and night, killing innocent people, he also learned that there was a monstrous Dragon that inhabited Erebor, or as it was also known, the Lonely Mountain. This made Harry blanch. There was definitely no mention of any dragon in the trilogy, not one that posed any threat to Gondor or to surrounding areas. The only dragon in Middle Earth that was mentioned in the books was Smaug. That thought made Harry blanch once more.

What if he was in a way earlier time than he thought he was?

Of course he had seen the book 'The Hobbit' in shop windows, but because Dudley hardly read, Vernon never bought it, and Harry was not stupid enough to ask. It was also always out of the library so Harry never got around to reading it.

He had panicked then. For the first time since arriving in Middle Earth he didn't know what was going to happen. He had no goal. His original goal had been to just travel around and see different places, that all changed then and there. He decided that he could do little for the next 60 years or so, and, knowing his luck, he'd come across Bilbo Baggins at some point in his travels. He dedicated the next 8 years to hunting down Orcs and Goblins. Putting the fear of him into them.

He'd actually made quite a name for himself. He had heard from his acquaintances that there were whispered tales of a man dressed in black, roaming the darkest places, taking out anything and everything that threatens the good people of Arda. He had heard a few nicknames, varying from Orc-slayer to the Black Wizard. He thought he preferred the latter name.

But he was troubled to know that there were some people who feared him. It was like his second year all over again.

Yet this time he found that the stares didn't bother him so much. He guessed he couldn't blame them for being scared, some random stranger appears from nowhere, attacking dark creatures and defending the helpless.

How could they know that he wouldn't just turn around and kill them as well. The mere thought disgusted Harry more than anything. This fear led to him travelling alone, anyone seen with him would be cast out from their peers for being, as people described him here, queer.

This is how he got into this part of the forest.

He had seen 3 very large trolls lumbering down from their cave in the mountain. Now, from what he'd learned about dark creatures in his 8 or so years of chasing them, is that some, particularly trolls, don't often venture far from their settlement. What also got Harry's curiosity was that he knew for a fact that trolls turned to stone when hit by the rays of the sun. Dawn was almost upon them. And they had still not returned the way they came.

Harry decided that instead of waiting for them to come back. Maybe he should go and find them. Yes, that would be for the best.

Harry jumped and ducked round the twisted mesh of trees that seemed to go on forever. Until he heard voices.

"A burrahobbit? What's a burrahobbit got to do with my pocket anyways?"

AN: Well, well, well, by overwhelming majority we are going to do the Hobbit as well as Lord of the Rings later, and before anyone who disagrees shouts at me, I thought that this might give Harry a little bit of history in this tale before he goes on the quest with the Fellowship, plus I didn't want it to be too like 'The Wizard in the Shadows' by Nimbus Llewelyn, hope you enjoyed and the next chapter will be up soon! BYE!


	6. Trolls and Meeting the Company

AN: Hey guys, next chapter in this fanfic is one I'm quite proud of, please leave a review and enjoy!

Chapter 5 - Meeting the Company

Harry blinked. 'A burrahobbit?' he thought to himself. 'Yep, definitely trolls'

He carefully took out his wand and cast a silencing spell on his feet so that he would not be overheard, then he started making his way through the brambles and branches that covered the closest entrance to the clearing.

The sight that he came across would have been incredibly funny at any other time. The three monstrous trolls were standing round a fire, one of which was holding what looked to be a child. But of course Harry knew better. Since he had met Gandalf back during his time in Minas Tirith and had joined him on a journey to the Shire, Gandalf loved the place and Harry shared his opinion, he had seen his fair share of hobbits. Bree also housed a fair few of them living among the men.

Anyway, Harry observed this comical scene with interest until he registered that the middle, and largest by far, troll was talking.

"He wouldn't make a mouthful, not once he was skinned and boned" it said. Harry breathed a sigh of relief, he didn't really fancy seeing what hobbit stew looked like, for know he was content that the hobbit wasn't in any danger and decided to sit and enjoy the show.

"P'raps there are more like him about, maybe we could make a pie" one of the other trolls said. Harry straightened up slightly. "Here you, are there any more of your sort a-sneakin around in these here woods yer nasty little rabbit"

"Yes lots," the hobbit replied, before his eyes widened and he backtracked, "No, none at all" Harry raised an eyebrow, maybe this would be more difficult than originally intended.

"What d'yer mean?" said the same troll.

"What I say," the hobbit, who Harry guessed was probably Bilbo Baggins, said gasping. "And please don't cook me, kind sirs! I am a good cook myself, and cook better than I cook, if you see what I mean. I'll cook beautifully for you, a perfectly beautiful breakfast for you, if only you won't have me for supper."

"Poor little blighter," said the largest troll.

Harry blinked.

Maybe trolls weren't all that bad.

Then he almost laughed out loud, what a ridiculous thought. The troll had probably already had enough to eat. "Poor little blighter! Let him go!" he said to the troll holding Bilbo up by his toes.

"Not till he says what he means by lots and none at all," it replied.

"I don't want to have me throat cut in me sleep. Hold his toes in the fire, till he talks!"

"I won't have it," said the largest troll. "I caught him anyway."

Harry was looking back and forth interestedly like he was at a tennis match.

"You're a fat fool, William," it replied viciously, "as I've said before this evening."

"And you're a lout!"

"And I won't take that from you. Bill Huggins," again it replied scornfully, and put it's fist into the largest troll's, William's, Harry corrected himself, eye.

Harry smirked as the argument turned into a full on fight and he noticed Bilbo fall to the ground and scamper out of harms way. With all of the name calling he managed to gather that the other two trolls names were Bert and Tom. Bert being the one who had started the fight with William.

It was when Tom started whacking the two fighting trolls with a branch that Harry couldn't take it anymore and collapsed to the ground in fits of laughter. He was sure anyone else in his position would do the same thing just seeing these lumbering, stupid goliaths rain down on each other with comedy like punches and kicks. He, at one point, sort of expected one of them to go 'Ohh my leggg!" like in a cartoon he had also gotten glimpses of as a kid, but it was not to be.

Harry gained back his breath after his laughing fit and stood up just in time to hear an awful howl from one of the trolls. The smile slipped off of his face when he saw quite an old looking dwarf standing in the entrance to the clearing.

"A sack Tom, Quick!" the other two trolls, who had by now stopped their ridiculous fight shouted. No sooner had the dwarfs eyes landed on the trolls, a sack was over his head and he was down. Harry sighed, and was about to go and deal with the trolls before he saw more dwarfs run into the clearing. Maybe they could handle this on their own.

There was a big fight in which many axes were swung and many howls howled before it was all over. Harry surveyed the carnage and his eyes landed on about 14 sacks laying near the fire. It would seem that Bilbo had been caught as well. Harry looked around for something to help. That was when he spotted the horizon. He grinned.

This was going to be fun.

He carefully pointed his wand at William and said quietly "Vox vocis novo", an invisible thread reached out and hit William, before Harry turned the wand on himself and repeated the phrase.

When the chaos had calmed down and all the trolls were gathered round the dwarves and Bilbo, Harry took his moment.

"No good roasting 'em now, we'd be 'ere all night" he said in a voice that sounded exactly like William's. He hoped it would work and it looked like it did.

"Don't start the argument all over again Bill," Bert growled "or it will take all night" Harry grinned.

"Who's a-aruing?" William replied. He had obviously thought it was one of the other trolls who had spoken.

"You are" Bert replied.

"You're a liar" William said angrily. And so the fight started again and Harry was again reduced to laughing fits. Eventually they all got to an agreement that they would mince the dwarves and Bilbo fine and then boil them. Harry got another idea and did the same thing to Tom that he had done to William.

"No good boiling 'em! We ain't got no water, and it's a long way to the well and all" he said in Tom's voice.

"Shut up!" said the other two trolls, "or we'll never have done. And yer can fetch the water yerself, if yer say no more"

"Shut up yerself!" replied Tom. "Who's arguing but you, I'd like to know."

"Yer a booby" William said.

"Booby yerself" said Tom.

And again the fighting and arguing began again, it was hotter than ever this time, again they reached a conclusion that they would sit on the sacks one by one and boil them next time. Harry chose this moment to yet again intervene.

"Which one should we sit on first?" he said in Bert's voice. He thanked the gods in that moment that he'd learnt as much as he could about magic, otherwise his impressions wouldn't have even fooled the dumbest of trolls.

"Better sit on the last fellow first" Bert replied absentmindedly, although for a troll that was normal.

"Don't talk to yerself!" said Tom. "But if you wants to sit on the last one, sit on him. Which one is he?"

"The one with the yellow stockings" replied Bert.

"Nonsense, the one with the grey stockings" Harry replied, sounding like William.

"I made sure it was yellow" said Bert angrily.

"And yellow it was" William replied.

"Now stop it!" Bert and Tom said. "The night's getting' on, and dawn comes early. Let's get on with it!"

Suddenly a deep, booming voice rang out around the clearing.

"Dawn take you all, and be stone to you!"

Of course it was Gandalf, standing atop a rock on the hill behind the three trolls, as the first light of day shone down on the trolls. William froze as soon as he turned, for he was already stone. Bert and Tom suffered the same fate. All three of them doomed to stand there forever more.

Gandalf jumped down from the rock. "Excellent!" he said, bushy eyebrows sticking out from under his grey hat. Harry had commented on his eyebrows when they had first met, that got him a clip round the ear. It was totally worth it though.

As soon as Gandalf had gotten all the dwarves and Bilbo out of the sacks where they all gasped for air Bilbo stood up and pointed at Gandalf.

"It was you!" he exclaimed excitedly as if he had just figured out a particularly tricky riddle. "It was your voice that kept the trolls arguing!"

Gandalf looked confused for a second before smiling benignly at the hobbit. "No my dear Bilbo Baggins, it was not my voice that kept the trolls arguing long enough for the first light of day"

"But, then….who was it?" Bilbo asked confusedly.

"I would like to know the same" an important looking dwarf said after he had regained his dignity.

"Ahh my friends, the man that came to your aid is one of my closest allies, if he is willing, I think that taking back Erebor will be easier than originally thought" Gandalf said with that same smile. Harry tensed. "Harry, if you would please?" Gandalf called. Harry sighed.

After removing the silencing spell from his feet his made his way into the clearing. Making sure to keep a straight posture, got to make a good first impression after all. He smiled at the dwarves and Bilbo.

Thorin stared at him "And who might you be?" he asked haughtily.

Harry inclined his head "Harry Potter's my name, hunting dark creature's my game" he internally cringed at how cheesy that sounded.

"It's you!" Bilbo cried. "You're the Black Wizard!" Harry raised an eyebrow at him.

"I have been called that I believe, I have to say that I prefer that to some of the other names I've been given" he said contemplatively.

The dwarves, all except the important one who merely raised an eyebrow, stared at him, mouths agape. Harry smiled at them all. He could see Gandalf chuckling silently out of the corner of his eye.

"Indeed?" the important dwarf said. "I have heard many stories of you, Black Wizard, and not all of them good ones" he said. Gandalf looked like he wanted to reprimand him but decided against it and chose just to observe. Harry looked towards him. He looked back with equally curious and guarded eyes.

"My name is Thorin Oakenshield" he said. The only indication that Harry gave that he recognised him was a slight raising of the eyebrows before he bowed lower.

"Your majesty" he said. Thorin inclined his head in acknowledgement.

"Mr Potter" Thorin said. "May I be so bold as to ask how you came upon us, here of all places"

Harry replied "Well it's not a very interesting tale to be honest with you, but I had heard of three trolls that were destroying towns and decided that they needed to be dealt with, so I followed them, when they exited their cave and went so far away I was curious," he said. "So of course I followed them, that is how I came across this scene, a hobbit being interrogated by three trolls is quite a sight to behold, I would have intervened but before I could you lot arrived and things got worse, then I intervened and here we are"

"You willingly went after three trolls on your own with no back up" one of the dwarves said disbelievingly. Harry just smiled.

"And it is a good job he did, otherwise there would be three trolls with a lot of squashed dwarves and a hobbit" Gandalf interjected.

"All thanks to your burglar" Thorin muttered.

"Now now, everything turned out for the best didn't it, no use dwelling on the past" Gandalf said merrily. Harry looked at Bilbo to see the hobbit looking down, he felt sorry for the poor hobbit. He obviously didn't want to be here, Harry could sympathise with that.

Gandalf then turned to him "Harry my boy, I don't believe you've been properly introduced to our little company here" he said. "This here is Dwalin, Balin, Fili, Kili, Dori, Nori, Ori," he said pointing to each dwarf individually who waved at him, he waved back bemusedly. "Oin, Gloin, Bifur, Bofur, Bombur and of course you now know Thorin" he continued as if he'd done it a million times. Harry's head was spinning. "And this here is Bilbo Baggins" Harry waved merrily to Bilbo when he looked up. Bilbo gave him a slight smile. Obviously still depressed about Thorin's harsh words.

"It's a pleasure to meet you all" Harry said. "Now, I really must be going, dark creatures don't catch themselves" he said quickly and turned to walk away. Before he could get far someone called out.

"Wait!" It was Gandalf. "You remember that favour I did for you," Harry cringed. He remembered all too well how Gandalf had helped him out in a scrape against a Warg a couple of years ago. He reluctantly nodded.

"I think it's time I called in a favour from you" he said. Harry braced himself for the inevitable.

"Will you help us regain Erebor for Thorin and the dwarves?"

AN: Well, that was a long chapter but enjoyable to write, that was my favourite scene in the book and the movie, hope you enjoyed it! See you in the next chapter! BYE!


	7. Wait, you want me to what?

AN: Hey guys, this is quite an action packed chapter and one of my favourite sequences from the movie, hope you enjoy!

Chapter 6 - Wait….You want me to what?

Harry's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. They couldn't honestly be serious. How could they possibly even have a hope of completing this task? There was what, 14 of the and Gandalf? He voiced his opinion of their quest.

"You cannot possibly be serious Gandalf?" Harry said to the wizened wizard incredulously.

Gandalf frowned "I'd have expected your honour alone to be enough for you to help us?"

Harry stared back, dumbstruck "We are talking about a dragon Gandalf, not just a dragon, not just a dragon, but the fiercest, biggest, and greediest dragon in the whole of Arda!"

Thorin looked at him coldly "I knew this was a waste of time, it would seem that the only ones we can count on are ourselves Gandalf," he said turning to the old wizard "let us be off, for help will not come from this boy"

Harry bristled "I never said I wouldn't help you your majesty" he ground out. "All I am saying is that with the amount of you there are, even with Gandalf, it would be a suicide mission"

Gandalf interrupted "So we can count on your aid?"

Harry turned his head towards the slowly rising sun and sighed "I had thought my days of suicidal missions was over, lord knows I've had my fair share of them" he said to himself. He continued "Although admittedly most of them were probably my fault, stupid Gryffindor nobility" he finally mumbled.

He turned around and straightened up "Harry Potter, at your service"

"Wonderful!" Gandalf exclained while Thorin merely grunted. "There is hope for this quest yet!"

All the other dwarves seemed to agree, it seemed having the feared Black Wizard on their side was giving them a big morale boost. Harry himself was wondering if he had made a mistake by leaving Rivendell all those years ago. 'Stupid star' he grumbled bitterly, the memory of Tonks and Teddy coming back in full force.

A thought occurred to him as they travelled up towards the where the trolls cave was. He voiced this thought to Gandalf. "Gandalf?" he got a hum in reply from the wizard.

"Where are we going after this?" he asked cautiously. He noticed Gandalf tense.

"All in good time my dear fellow" he replied distractedly.

"Gandalf?" Harry said warningly. "Where are we going next?" he asked more forcefully this time. He heard a soft sigh escape the wizards lips.

"Rivendell" came the mumbled reply.

At first Harry thought he hadn't heard him properly. So he asked again. Later on he wished he hadn't.

"Rivendell" came the louder response.

Harry froze. No. He couldn't go back to Rivendell now. He couldn't face her now. He couldn't handle that. Gandalf, noticing his friends posture, sighed wearily.

"I have told you many a time, she has forgiven you, I have talked to her myself, she understands your reasons for leaving. She didn't have to like it but she understands that you felt lonely there, like you didn't truly belong and in some ways you didn't, but in many ways you did" Gandalf said comfortingly to Harry who still had not moved since this new revelation.

"She may have forgiven me, that does not mean I have forgiven myself" Harry said simply. That was all that was said on the subject before they moved on.

Reaching the cave entrance a truly foul smell invaded each nose, whether dwarf, hobbit or wizard. It reminded Harry of the smell all those years back in his first year at Hogwarts. But that is a story for another time.

Walking cautiously into the cave Harry looked around. It was almost pitch black at the back of the cave. He took out his wand and said 'Lumos' The whole cave lit up with the light that emerged from the tip of the Elder wand. Bilbo squeaked whilst the dwarves all jumped a bit.

'I wonder if Gandalf can do that' Bilbo thought looking towards the other wizard who was observing the various reactions to Harry's magic with amusement.

They all continued on to the back where some of the dwarves, Harry couldn't remember their names, found a small chest of treasure. Of course he knew dwarves loved treasure, after all that was the reason they were going on this ridiculous quest in the first place.

Harry observed the rest of them for a while. After they had finished plundering supplies from the trolls cave they made their way back out into the daylight.

Harry was about to follow Gandalf who was the last of the original company when he almost tripped over something. Making sure no one saw his slip in dignity he bent down curiously.

There, in the dirt and covered by leaves, was what looked to be a sword handle. Harry picked it up and brushed it off. After taking the small sword, which was almost dagger size, out of the scabbard he observed the intricate detail. He grinned.  
Sting. So this is where Bilbo had gotten the Elvish blade from. But why didn't Gandalf pick it up. 'No Matter' he thought.

"Harry?" Gandalf shouted back into the cave. "Are you coming or should we leave you with only the skeletons for company?"

Harry barked out a laugh "I'm coming, I'm coming, plus I know that's an empty threat, you need me too much" he said with amusement as Gandalf just huffed.

When he was out of the cave he looked around for Bilbo. Seeing him helping one of the dwarves with their supplies he shouted over to him.

"Bilbo?"

Bilbo turned in Harry's direction. Harry walked towards him and handed the blade, now in the scabbard, to him. He looked at it in confusion.

"What is this for?" he asked. Harry sighed.

"This is a sword which I thought might be useful to you on this adventure, for it matches your height" Harry said in amusement. Bilbo mock glared at him and took the blade out.

Harry smiled at the look of amazement on his face at being confronted with an admittedly beautiful blade. He continued whilst Bilbo was still looking at it.

"That's an Elvish blade you know, it glows blue when Orcs are near" he said. Bilbo however looked uncertain.

"You know I have never used a sword before in my life" he said. Harry smiled.

"Of course I know, and that what make you who you are, but as Gandalf has probably already told you, this quest will cause you to leave that person far behind" he said solemnly. Gandalf chose that moment to interrupt.

"Do not worry about your lack of experience with a sword Mr Baggins, for I am sure the time for gaining it will come soon enough" he said gravely. "Just remember this, true courage, is not knowing when to take a life, but knowing when to spare one"

Harry considered those words. He knew better than most what it was like to spare a life. That is of course what had happened in his third year, that hadn't turned out so well though. He wanted to urge Bilbo to be careful about that but it would ruin Gandalf's little speech and that would most definitely earn him a clip round the ear.

He sighed and followed the two as they went to catch up with the dwarves who had gone on ahead.

He looked up when he heard a curious sound. It sounded like the pounding of many small feet. It was also accompanied by the occasional rustle of trees and also a few 'Ows'. Suddenly something burst out from the trees behind them. Harry was about to let fire when he noticed a flash of brown before he was knocked to the ground forcefully.

Quickly scrambling up he looked toward the interruption and let out a sigh of relief when he saw none other than Radagast the Brown. He smiled at the eccentric wizard who smiled briefly back before turning to Gandalf who was trying to calm everyone else down.

"Gandalf!" he said in what sounded like relief.

"Radagast the Brown" Gandalf said with a chuckle before turning serious. "What are you doing here Radagast?"

Radagast looked over at Harry then at Gandalf before finally saying "I need to talk to you two about some urgent business"

As soon as all three were away from the curious dwarves and equally curious hobbit Radagast turned to them both.

"There is a sickness that plagues the forest, nothing grows there any more, no plants, no animals, nothing" he said. Harry began to get worried. If there was a sickness then there was undoubtedly something horrible causing it. "All that you can see that points to living life is the webs"

Harry's eyes widened "Webs?! You mean there are more spiders than the one I chased into Mirkwood?" he asked. Gandalf seemed to be thinking along the same lines as the looked at Radagast expectantly.

"Oh yes, many more, and they seem to be setting up camp in -" here he stuttered before composing himself "- in Dol Guldur"

Harry turned to Gandalf who looked as worried as Harry himself felt. Of course he had heard the tale from Gandalf and the rest of the White Council, which he had been authorized to join years earlier, of when the Dark Lord Sauron once ruled in Dol Guldur and how they had driven him out, only for him to return and to capture Thorin's father, Thrain, and cause him to lose his mind before Gandalf found him.

"If spiders are settling in Dol Guldur then that can only mean one thing" Harry said wearily. "Sauron is on the move"

After a few minutes more of conversation they were about to part ways.

That's when things started to go a bit pear shaped.

He heard a sound that had been so familiar since his time in Middle Earth that he should have become used to it by now, but it still sent shivers down his spine.

It was a howl.

"Shit!" he cursed and shouted to the rest. "Everyone get ready for a fight, it's Wargs!"

Everyone got into a circle and into a fighting position. Bilbo in the middle looking terribly frightened.

"Bilbo!" Harry shouted. "Look at your sword!"

Bilbo did just that and low and behold it was glowing bright blue. Harry cursed yet again as the first Warg appeared and charged, only for it to get slaughtered by one of the dwarves axes. Then another came and Harry decided to get involved.

"Sectumsempra!" he shouted, efficiently cutting of it's head as it had been racing towards Bilbo.

"We need to get out of hear, judging by Bilbos sword there are Orcs as well as Wargs, we need a distraction" he said to Gandalf. Radagast decided this was his time.

"I will distract them while you get away" he said. Harry looked at him, then at his rabbits which he had learned were extremely fast then he nodded.

"Ok, try to lead them as far away as you can, I hate to admit it but Gandalf, lead the way" he said grudgingly, as more howls echoed around them. Gandalf nodded seriously and as Radagast took off they followed at a run.

After much running they came to a huge plain, it stretched for miles around.

"This way" Gandalf shouted as they saw Radagast with at least 15 Wargs on his tail. Harry hoped the mad wizard would be careful. The continued running and when it became clear that one of the orcs that were riding the Wargs like horses spotted them they dived behind a big rock.

No one dared to breath. Harry chanced a look to the top of the rock where he saw the head of an orc. He saw Thorin nod to another dwarf, was it Fili or Kili. Said dwarf nodded back then proceeded to shoot an arrow into the Wargs eye. Sending it and the orc tumbling down in front of the group.

After much roaring from the orc which undoubtedly would have attracted the attention of the rest of the pack they began their flee again. But this time they got cornered. Fili/Kili was shooting arrows this way and that and Harry had to admit that he was good.

He looked around and noticed that Gandalf was not with them. Shit. Could this get any worse?

He looked around and contemplated just setting the surrounding area on fire. Killing the Wargs was like killing some of those extremists he'd seen in Captain America magazine, cut of one head and two more grow back. But before he could set fire to anything he heard Gandalf.

Turning around he saw the Wizards head sticking out of a hole inbetween two rocks.

"Quickly this way" he shouted. Harry was obliged to follow, but not before he grabbed Fili/Kili who seemed to have not heard him, and who squawked in indignation for being dragged.

They were the last to go down the hole and just escaped the sharp teeth of an approaching Warg. They looked up into the horrid eyes of the beast which was trying to figure out how to get down to it's prey when it and it's owner were shot in the back by an arrow.

It fell down into their hole and when Thorin picked the arrow out of it's back he growled "Elves" he said. Harry relaxed.

"Be thankful they arrived when they did or we would be Orc stew" Gandalf chastised Thorin which was met with a glare from the important and rather hot headed dwarf.

"Should we find out where this here path leads us?" one of the dwarves who had gone a bit ahead shouted back.

Everyone agreed and Harry thought he heard Gandalf mumble "I think that would be wise"

The path seemed to go on forever with it's twists and turns before finally Harry came across a sight which he had not seen for 8 years.

The Last Homely House East of the Sea. Imladris.

Rivendell.

AN: Dun Dun DUNNN Hope you enjoyed that chapter guys again it was a lot of fun writing it and I think it's the longest chapter yet I'm not sure though, see you in the next chapter and don't forget to review, thanks! BYE!


	8. It's Good To Be Home

AN: Hello everyone! Thanks for all the good reviews, it helps keep me going during exam period so I thank you, and I hope you enjoy this extra long chapter! See ya in a bit!

Chapter 7 - It's Good To Be Home

Harry stared for a moment, partly in anger at Gandalf for having tricked him into returning to this place, partly in gratitude that they had managed to escape those Orcs and finally in dread at seeing Dee again. It had been so long since they'd spoken and they hadn't left on the best of terms. Harry thought back to the day he left Rivendell.

_Flashback_

_Harry wrung his hands nervously_

_He'd been planning this for a while now_

_It was the right thing to do_

_It was….wasn't it?_

_He shook himself out of his contemplation to stare at the door leading into Dee's room, this was the moment he dreaded the most, Dee knew none of his plans. He dreaded how she would take the news but kept on telling himself that she would understand._

_'She must have noticed how withdrawn I have been recently, I mean, she's a woman, they generally notice more than us, she will understand once you explain it to her' he thought to himself for what must have the thousandth time._

_Plucking up what was left of his courage he knocked on the door. A minute later Dee opened it and smiled brightly at him. He smiled back, although a bit forced, she didn't seem to detect anything. She motioned him inside and he followed._

_"Harry! It's so good to see you, my carers been driving me mad, since you met them they've been pestering me to…." here she paused. An uncertain look came over her face, she bit her lip. Harry decided to get it over and done with._

_"Can I go first, I have something to tell you" he asked. She nodded carefully._

_"Well, here it goes," he began with a deep breath "you know these couple of years have been some of the best of my life don't you" he got a nod and continued "and it's not that I haven't enjoyed every second of being here, but you see…" he paused bracing himself._

_"I have to go" he said finally. Dee looked confused._

_"Go? Go where?" she asked. Harry sighed._

_"I can't stay here, I don't belong, I've never really belonged, not here, not where I was, not anywhere" he said softly. "That is why I must leave Rivendell, see the world and find my place in it, I suspect I shall be gone for a while, maybe years, but remember that you will see me again some day" he was about to say good bye when he looked up at her, as he had previously been looking towards the ground, to see tears in her eyes. 'Oh God' he thought. He'd never been any good with crying girls. Cho was enough evidence of that._

_"You can't go!" she finally shouted, surprising Harry with the anger in her voice. "You can't just up and leave" she continued. After that came a storm of angry tirades which Harry stood there and took. He knew she needed to let off some steam. But it seemed before she could calm down she decided that enough was enough and pushed him out of the room, leading to him falling on his behind, and slamming the door in his face._

_He heard the click of a lock and sighed. That hadn't gone as planned._

_End Flashback_

Harry blinked back to reality and remembered the days following that which he'd spent trying to get Dee to talk to him when he figured she wasn't going to. That's when he left. Left in the early morning, only saying goodbye to Elrond who had assured him that whenever he had need of a rest he was welcome to stay there.

He hadn't been back since that day, obviously, how could he? He'd just up and left without really saying goodbye to her. But he put aside his ridiculous teenage-like angst and focused on the task ahead. After the encounter with the trolls and the Orcs Harry had a feeling that things weren't likely to get better.

But before he could plan any more ahead he heard Bilbo calling his name, telling him that they were moving on. Slowly he turned away from the magnificent sight and caught up with the others.

Rivendell was just like it had been. Gleaming white towers shone in the sunlight which had somehow managed to find a way into the valley, as it always did.

The group continued down until they came level with the Last Homely House. There they crossed the bridge and made there way to the elf, Elror was his name if Harry remembered correctly, that was standing there to greet them.

Harry tuned out while Gandalf exchanged greetings with the elf and answered questions in his usual cryptic manner, that was until he heard the sound of horses galloping behind him.

Turning slightly he saw a group of about 20 horses galloping towards them, each carrying an elf astride them. Harry smiled when he saw a familiar face amongst the elves. But his smiled slid off of his face when he was grabbed by one of the dwarves and pulled back into a tightly packed circle that they had formed.

Harry realised then the extent of the animosity between dwarves and elves. The dwarves even had their weapons out like they were going to have to defend themselves.

Elrond either didn't seem to notice or didn't particularly care as he rode round to where Gandalf was standing, frowning at the Company. After a brief conversation with Gandalf Elrond turned back to the party. His eyes landed on Harry and his eyes widened before his face broke into a huge smile which seemed out of place on the usually conservative Lord. Harry smiled back and embraced his foster father in this world.

"Now this is a surprise, what would you happen to be doing with a company of dwarves when last I heard you were off in the dominion of Men?" Elrond asked curiously. The dwarves stared at Harry, obviously thrown off by the familiarity he had with Elrond.

"Now, that is a story that I shall have to tell another time, over dinner perhaps?" Harry replied with a laugh. It was good to see Elrond again.

"Indeed, indeed, but don't you think there is someone who should come first?" Elrond asked him with a raised eyebrow. Harry heaved a heavy sigh.

"Yes, I suppose that it can't wait" he said. With that he turned and took off away from the company, leaving some confused dwarves, and even more confused hobbit and an amused Lord in his wake.

After what seemed like a year and felt suspiciously like walking to his death, which he knew about better than anyone, he arrived at Dee's bedroom.

Taking a deep breath he knocked on the door. It took a minute to open but when it did he saw Dee standing there in much the same clothes she was wearing the day he arrived. She looked at him, blinked, looked away, turned back again slowly, blinked again and squealed so loudly Harry thought his eardrums may have gone bust.

Next thing he knew he was in a bone crushing hug. It reminded him of hugs Hermione used to give him, strong but soft at the same time. She pulled away and Harry was surprised, and a bit panicked, to see that her eyes had teared up again. But this time she had the brightest smile he'd ever seen on her face. That was before it turned to a frown.

This was when Harry should have probably ran for the hills.

She started off by punching him repeatedly on the shoulder exclaiming words about him that he oughtn't repeat even in his head, then she changed to crying into his shoulder saying sorry over again. This is how it ended but not before she'd called him a bastard one more time and slapped him hard across the face which left his cheek stinging.

All in all Harry was one very, very confused wizard.

"So….does that mean I'm forgiven? If I'm honest with you I'm rather confused here" Harry said. He heard a muffled giggle come from the elf in his arms.

"When are you not confused?" she mumbled. Harry laughed properly for what felt like the first time in years.

For the next couple of hours the two walked around the grounds talking. Exchanging tales of the years since the argument. Harry with more tales than Dee obviously.

Finally they took their place in the feast which had been arranged more for Harry's homecoming rather than the arrival of the dwarves, not that the dwarves knew that of course.

It was a merry night with lots of singing and eating, even some dancing as well, though Harry had never been one for dancing. Dee managed to get him to join in once or twice. Harry watched her as she danced the night away. He shouldn't get feelings for anyone here, he had Tonks.

But that world, that relationship, felt light years away. And with no way to get back found so far it seemed like it was going to stay that way. He'd even tried wishing on a star, obviously stars didn't work here like the seemed to at home.

Home.

Harry contemplated the word a lot that evening. He couldn't believe how much he'd missed the singing and dancing of Rivendell. Maybe the adrenaline of hunting Orcs and other dark creatures kept his mind off of it. He was also struggling to think of that world as home anymore. Of course it was where he was born, but he'd lived as many years here as he had in his world, his early time at the Dursley's didn't really count as living to him.

Breaking out of his contemplation he realised that everyone was not departing, off to their respective rooms. Soon it was only him and Dee.

"I missed you" she said. Harry sighed.

"You know I missed you too, but I hope you know why I had to go?" he asked hopefully.

"At first I did not, but I came to understand with time" she said moving closer to him.

She got closer, and closer, and closer. Harry found that he didn't have the heart or the will to stop her. Slowly she leaned in and gave him the lightest of kisses on the lips. It was almost as if it had not happened. But it was still there to Harry. She bade him goodnight and returned to her own room.

Harry sighed yet again "I should have grown out of all this teenage stuff years ago" he muttered to himself before returning to his own room for the night.

He spent a couple of weeks in Rivendell. Since the kiss things had gotten strange between Harry and Dee, Dee seemed to get embarrassed whenever she was around him. Harry himself was having an inner battle. He had Tonks, he had Tonks, he had…who? Tonks? He felt like he barely knew her anymore and in many ways he didn't. He'd changed since arriving here, he just wasn't the same wizard he was. Would Tonks want him if he managed to get back? Did he want to go back? Did he want to leave again on this ridiculous quest? Part of him said no to all of those questions. But then again, he couldn't stop himself from wanting to accompany the dwarves to reclaim their homeland. It would be more like days of old.

He was sitting in his room when there was a knock on the door.

"Come in" he called. In came Dee.

"Alright, I can't take it anymore, everything is weird about us now, I get so embarrassed when I'm around you and you frown like you're having an staring contest with the wall and losing, either we take this further or we go back to the way it was and forget that whole kiss ever even happened!" she said finally.

Harry considered her. He wanted to leave the awkwardness behind them as well. But he didn't know what to do. Finally after a period of silence Dee threw her hands in the air in exasperation and planted a stronger kiss on his lips. When she pulled back Harry thought he had gone cross-eyed.

"I want to take this further" she said shyly. Harry looked up and smiled, nodding in agreement. She squealed and again kissed him, leaving Harry out of breath and cross-eyed.

And that's how it stayed for the rest of their stay, they spent almost every minute of every day together. The longest they were apart was when Harry was invited to attend a meeting of wizards with Gandalf.

Harry went into said meeting with apprehension. He expected there to be many incredible wizards there who vastly outmatched him in terms of power, despite Gandalf telling him differently. But as soon as he got there he was surprised.

It seemed that because of the history of wars and dark lords, many of the Maia had been either killed or tempted into joining the dark side. The White Council only consisted of Gandalf, Saruman the White, Radagast the Brown (who couldn't be there for some reason or another, 'Probably forgotten where Rivendell is" Harry thought amusedly), Lord Elrond, and Lady Galadriel who Harry had not yet had the pleasure of meeting.

She was a strange lady for sure. He was a bit unnerved about the fact that she was a natural Legillemence or something of the like. But she seemed kind enough. Finally after Gandalf and Harry arrived the council got underway.

"I begin this meeting of the White Council of Wizards by welcoming our guest Mr Potter" Saruman began. Harry nodded curtly. The white wizard continued.

"Now, Gandalf, I believe you wished to start"

Gandalf nodded and so the council continued. Gandalf talking about the Necromancer who apparently housed itself in Dol Guldur. It wasn't until Saruman denied the claims that Sauron was back that Harry decided he would step in.

"It could be possible that he lives" he said quietly, yet loudly enough for all to hear.

"And how so Elerosse?" Elrond enquired before Saruman could leap to contradict him.

"Back where I came from, in my world, there was another Dark Lord of similar cruelty, yet not nearly as much power, as Sauron, he attacked my family when I was just a youngling, for reasons that shall be discussed another time, he killed my parents and then moved on to me, he sent a deadly curse my way which no one had ever been known to survive" Harry said. Saruman intervened.

"We have no time for backstories" he said irritably. Harry glared at him.

"I know that, as I was saying, when the curse hit me it rebounded upon him, 'killing' him, or at least that's what the world thought" he continued. Saruman smirked in triumph.

"And the dead stay dead Mr Potter, no force can bring them back" he said. Harry glared again.

"You didn't let me finish, again as I was saying, the world I belonged to believed he was dead, for 15 years in fact, but he had taken steps to prevent his death" he said. "Horcruxes were a horrible piece of magic, the worst kind in fact, a Horcrux was the act of splitting someone's very soul and placing it in an object for safe-keeping" he continued gravely.

"Their soul!" Elrond exclaimed. "The soul is what makes a being who they are, ripping it apart goes against the very balance of nature, how could anyone do such a thing?"

"Indeed, that was my thinking when I first heard of it, but he didn't make just one, he made 7 horcruxes" Harry replied.

"7! 7 Horcruxes! How could he have been anything more than a shell?" Gandalf said, astonished and not in the least disgusted.

"He was more than that, he was unbeatable with his Horcruxes, and how we destroyed them and the rest of my tale is also best told for another time, but the point I have been trying to make is that there are ways Sauron could have survived, even without any of us knowing it" he concluded. There was silence for a while until Saruman decided to add his thoughts.

"But even if there is these Horcruxes that you speak of, that is magic in a different world, I assure you there is no spell or act that could do such a thing in Arda, the Valar simply wouldn't allow such a thing" he said confidently.

"And I don't doubt it, but maybe Sauron found a way, even if he didn't know it yet, what if he poured so much of his personality and will into an object that it became almost a separate being yet still connected to him" Harry prompted.

"You cannot surely be talking about the One Ring?" Saruman scoffed. "That was lost years ago, probably rusted at the bottom of a lake somewhere"

"You don't get it do you, you underestimate the power of Sauron, what if this ring was so powerful that it couldn't be destroyed by ordinary means, Elrond, you know more on this matter than I do" he indicated to the Lord. He nodded warily.

"I was there when the strength of men failed, when Isildur refused to cast the One Ring into the fires of Mount Doom, leading to his death, but that was years ago, something would have happened by now if it was going to" he replied.

"But what if someone else found it, what if they hid away with it?" Harry said. Saruman decided that enough was enough.

"All of this is just theories, no proof that Sauron is back" he said. Gandalf interrupted.

"But we do" he said. Slowly he reached into his pocket and pulled out an object wrapped in cloth. He unwrapped it. It contained what looked to be a sword, smaller than Harry's but bigger than Bilbo's and completely black in colour. He didn't notice anything strange about it, but from the gasp of Elrond he must have been missing something.

"How did you come by this?" Elrond breathed.

"It was given to me by Radagast when he found us, apparently coming straight from Dol Guldur" Gandalf replied gravely.

"Radagast the old fool" Saruman scoffed. A small argument broke out over that but things soon cooled down and they spent the rest of the council discussing plans concerning what to do about the Necromancer. Harry tuned out as he had a feeling he would be with the dwarves instead when anything did happen.

The next day Elrond took Thorin, Harry, Bilbo and Gandalf out onto a cliff edge with glass stand on it. There he could read the message that was marked in moon-letters on Thorin's map. Something about a thrush, Harry didn't really catch that bit. After that and many warnings from Elrond that some would not deem the expedition wise they retired to their own rooms to think.

All in all it was a good homecoming for Harry, much to be thankful for. But troubled times lay ahead, leaving Dee (again), Fighting Dragons and whatever else lay between them and the once great Kingdom or Erebor.

This seemed a bit more dangerous than anything he'd been through so far in his life.

AN: Hello again! Hope you enjoyed that extra long chapter, more angst than the rest of the story is going to be put together, but I had to get that out of the way for later events to makes sense, hope you don't mind, see ya in the next chapter! BYE!


	9. The Misty Mountains

AN: Hey guys, a big chapter for you today, lots of adventure as well which is pretty cool. Hope you enjoy it!

Chapter 8 - The Misty Mountains

On the last day of their stay in Rivendell Harry was taking one last walk around the beautiful house. He'd hadn't seen it for years, he'd almost forgotten how beautiful it was. He was so lost in thought that he didn't notice someone sneak up behind him.

"It's easy to forget what you once took for granted" a voice said. Harry would have jumped if he hadn't experienced something like this so much during his time living in Rivendell with the elves. Turning around he saw Gandalf leaning on his staff with a look which mingled amusement and regret.

"Indeed it is Gandalf my friend, indeed it is" Harry replied thoughtfully. That stood in contemplative silence for a moment before Gandalf voiced his thoughts.

"You know, in all my years of living on this good Earth I have never once regretted a decision I have made," he said "that was until the other night"

"Hmm," Harry replied curiously, still looking out over the valley. "And what would that be?"

"My regret is taking advantage of you," he said "taking advantage of your willingness to help anyone or anything, and for that I am truly sorry"

Harry blinked. Then blinked again. That certainly hadn't been what he was expecting, yet now that he thought about it, Gandalf's words that day had been a little underhanded. "Go on" he prompted, still not turning around.

"I know that I shouldn't have put you into a situation where you felt like you had to join us on the quest, I guess I was so desperate for any advantage I could get that I acted without thinking, which if you know me, and you do, is a rare occurance" Gandalf said wryly. Harry laughed out loud.

There was the Gandalf he knew.

"You do not have to come on this quest if you do not wish to, the choice is up to you" Gandalf said.

Harry thought for a while. Did he want to go on the quest? No was the answer he kept repeating to himself. Yet there was a small part of himself that craved something like this, craved adventure, craved excitement, craved that adrenaline rush you get in a life or death situation.

He guessed it was his Gryffindor side coming out to play. Plus the dwarves and poor Bilbo would all be slaughtered should he choose to stay. After a couple more minutes of thinking during which Gandalf was waiting patiently he decided on a response.

"I want to walk away" he began, turning around to face Gandalf now, the sun behind him rising all the time. "I want to walk away from all of this, this adventure, this danger, but I can't seem to bring myself to, who am I not to help someone who is likely going to die if I don't, I have these powers for a reason, and I intend to use them. My decision has not changed, I am still going on this quest." he finished.

Gandalf looked surprised before he nodded. "And know that I, and the company, are very thankful to you, I daresay the others might have been eaten by trolls should you not have come along, you truly are one of a kind Elerosse" he said fondly. Harry smiled at him.

"As are you Olorin" he replied. Gandalf's eyes widened momentarily before he smiled brightly back.

It seemed all was well for the moment. Harry knew that that would change soon enough. Dangers lay before him that not even the foulest creatures on this or any other Earth could even comprehend. This was so dangerous that it would likely cost him his life.

He still had to tell Dee he was leaving again after all.

Harry shuddered at the mere thought. He and Dee had gotten even closer during his time in Rivendell, if you know what I mean, but Harry hoped that that would increase the trust she had in him, the trust that he would come back to her.

So, bracing himself he made the short trip to where he had last seen her, sitting on their bench overlooking the stream that ran down to the river.

Seeing her still sitting their gazing across the stream he walked quietly up to her.

"Morning" he said pleasantly, his face tried to remain calm but his eyes must have given his feelings away because she seemed to see straight through it. Yet again Harry braced himself for some physical pain, but to his surprise none came.

Slowly he looked up to see a calm Dee, but the tears threatening to fall gave her away. He flung his arms around her as she broke down.

"I don't want you to go" she said sadly after she had calmed down.

"I don't want to go, but you know I have to do what is right, no matter how much I hate it" Harry replied solemnly.

"And I love you for that" she replied tearfully. Harry sat stunned. Before a huge smile grew on his face.

"I love you too" he said. Her smile was so bright that it seemed to light up the area around them even more. What was it with everyone smiling today? Anyway they quickly sobered up after a smiling elf (Seriously?) came to tell Harry that the company were getting ready to leave. Harry nodded and turned to Dee.

"I promise you that I will come back, and I never break a promise" he said. Se kissed him and they shared one last hug before they left to the main entrance bridge.

Once there they saw the asorted company. Gandalf, Thorin, Balin, Dwalin, Oin, Gloin, Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, Ori, Nori, Dori, Fili, Kili and Bilbo. It had taken Harry the entire stay at Rivendell to remember all of them by face. It had been hard work, especially as he had usually been a bit drunk whilst attempting it.

Smiling at the company he turned to Dee.

"I will come back" he said. Dee smiled back.

"I know you will"

After all the goodbyes and farewells were given to Elrond and his people. The 15 unlikely companions set of on the road out of Rivendell and into the Misty Mountains.

Something about these mountains made Harry nervous as he idly listened to Fili and Kili argue about something or other. They were just coming out of the valley. There were many paths they could have taken out of Rivendell that would have lead in the same direction, but many of these were cheats or deceptions which came to a bad end most of the time. But thanks to Elrond and Gandalf they managed to take the right path up into the mountain.

This proved a long and arduous trip though as days after leaving they were still on the same path. Dwarves were moaning and groaning around him. He had half a mind to snap at them but knew that it would do no good to the morale which was declining rapidly from the heights it had been at when the left the Last Homely Home.

Finally there was a change of scenery.

Morale went even lower.

The reason for their despair was that there was only a thin ledge running along the cliff face for the entire company to travel along. What was worse was the rain that was falling heavily onto them.

"Well everyone, think of it this way, at least things can't possibly get any worse!" Harry said brightly. He regretted it almost instantly was a big roar of thunder was heard. Followed extremely closely by a fork of lightning hitting the ground far below them.

"Well, now that can't get any worse" he said uncertainly, wondering what could possibly make this situation, where the dwarves, Bilbo, Gandalf and Harry were manoeuvring their way along the ledge, any worse.

Apparently there was something.

Through the haze of falling rain he could make out a big black shape. And it was…wait?

It was growing.

Indeed it was growing, for these are the stone giants. Great giants made entirely out of some of the smaller mountains. These giants liked to play a game with other giants in which they threw large rocks at each other to see who would lose balance first.

Harry decided soon that it was the worst game he'd ever seen or heard of.

Rocks were falling down the cliff they were standing on which luckily wasn't the leg of a giant. If they didn't fall off first they would be buried under an avalanche. Thorin seemed to share his view.

"This is of no use," said dwarf finally cried "we must find shelter lest we be drowned in this cursed rain or fall to our death via these wretched giants"

"I'm inclined to agree with Thorin on this one" Harry shouted.

"Fili, Kili," Gandalf barked, obviously in no better mood than the rest of them "go ahead and see if you can find a cave or something to set up camp in!"

The two dwarves looked at each other and decided it best not to argue with the irate wizard, and so they ventured onwards. A couple of minutes later they returned.

"There is a cave further along, it is quite big and can easily fit us and the ponies in" Fili said, gesturing towards the ponies Elrond had given them to carry the supplies.

"Have you checked all the way back?" Gandalf asked. "Dark things often lie in the caves of these mountains?"

"Yes, yes, there is but a wall at the back of the cave" Kili replied. And so it was that the company and Harry set up camp in this cave.

Yes, probably not the best idea they'd ever had.

As everyone was nodding off to sleep Harry decided that he'd better keep watch. Can't be too careful in these regions. It turned out to be a good idea as when he was nodding off himself he saw a crack appear in the wall at the back of the cave.

It grew bigger and bigger.

"WAKE UP!" he shouted before the first goblins swarmed through the hole and grabbed him, tying his hands behind his back while he'd been been turning around to shout for the others. He scolded himself later on for not keeping his eyes always on the hole but he had to warn the others.

It seemed it hadn't all been for nothing as Gandalf's eyes snapped open and in a blast of magic all the goblins near him were dead. That was the last thing Harry saw before the entrance shut and him, the dwarves who had been caught in the confusion, and Bilbo who had woken up just too late, were cut off from Gandalf.

Down, down, down they were led, in an almost complete darkness with only the sound of goblin jeers sounding through the long caverns.

Finally after what seemed like an age there came a light at the end of the tunnel. Literally not metaphorically you understand. As they entered it Harry saw that they were in an underground city. He was starting to truly panic.

'The Goblin King!' was the phrase repeated in his mind over and over again. Oh it was not for him he was worried about, he knew he could get himself out perfectly safe, it was for the rest that he feared for.

After a while they were pushed down to their knees in front of the Goblin King himself. He was hideous. He looked like a mutated pig that had somehow learned to talk and walk.

Harry kept his face low so as not to draw attention to the fact that he was not a dwarf. Luckily the goblins didn't manage to find his wand when they searched them all, though they did take everyone else swords, except from Sting which, like Harry's wand, had evaded their notice. Harry felt a bit of relief for that. At least the hobbit had something to defend himself if needs be.

"What are 13 dwarves and a Halfling doing on my doorstep" the king said curiously, but with an underlying threat in his voice. Harry felt some strange sort of indignation well up that he had been thought one of the dwarves, he knew he was tall but he was dwarven height.

"We knew not that that cave was your door your Highness" Thorin spat out, he may as well have not used formalities as the goblins don't really recognise such a thing.

"Aha, what do we have here? Thorin Oakenshield, my, my, what a surprise" the king said with a chuckle. Harry decided that things were going to stop there.

He lifted his head and stood up. The kings eyes widened as he took in who had happened to be brought into his sanctuary. He started shouting at his goblins in their own, horrible language. Harry wasted no time in revealing his wand.

"EFFLIGO!" he bellowed. This spell, which he'd learnt from one of the rather darker books he'd found during his forray into Knockturn Alley, was a spell that wasn't just meant to kill someone, but to 'obliterate' them. It certainly did it's job as the black in colour spell shot out from his wand and literally destroyed the Goblin King.

There was silence for a moment from dwarves, hobbits, and goblins alike. Gandalf chose this moment to appear.

"Good work Harry," he said out loud "now, I think we better get going don't you?"

And so it was that the goblins were broken out of their stupor and they all gave a great screech of rage, they charged the group who had enough wits to gather their weapons and fight back. Harry was flinging every curse he knew this way and that. It was decimating the goblin's ranks but they kept coming.

In the end they had to grab Bilbo and make for the exit. The tunnel they ran down was so long Harry began wondering if it was ever going to end. It seemed to them that the goblins had given up and stopped. So they decreased their pace a bit. It wasn't until there came a shout from Dwalin who was carrying Bilbo at the back that they realised they had been wrong.

It was a terrible scuffle, Harry knew the dwarves and Gandalf could fend for themselves, his priority was Bilbo at the moment. He dived into an alcove and pulled out his old cloak which he kept on him for obvious reasons. But he had a feeling about these mines. A feeling that told him to just wait for Bilbo to wake, as it had become obvious that he had fallen unconscious yet luckily out of the way of all the goblins, and to try and find his way out.

His feelings were rarely wrong so when the scuffle was over and the goblins had retreated, Harry felt a bit hurt that the company had forgotten him, but he understood that in the dark when running it's hard to tell who is there and who is not when the priority is just getting out alive.

He then used a skill he'd picked up towards the end of the war.

"Expecto Patronum" he said quietly. A stag burst out of his wand and looked around for an enemy, finding none it turned back to Harry and looked at him questioningly.

"I am fine, I will meet up with you in a couple of hours, I have some unfinished buisness, don't come looking for me quite yet, for I have no doubt I will see you soon, Harry" he intoned to the gleaming stag. It seemed to understand and with it's instructions it went of to deliver his message. The first time he'd done that he'd compared them mentally to owls in some respect. He didn't even need to say who it was too. It just knew.

After what seemed like an age yet again Harry heard a rustle beside him. It seemed Mr Baggins was waking up. Finally. He watched carefully as Bilbo sat up, looked around and quickly his face deflated as he saw that he was alone. Harry hated to make the hobbit think he'd forgotten him, but he had the feeling that this was something Bilbo had to do to prove himself to the company.

So Bilbo got up slowly, obviously still feeling a bit woozy from the knock to the head. He then walked in the direction he thought the door to the outside world to be. Down and down Harry followed Bilbo until he stopped suddenly. Surprised by the stop, Harry looked at him curiously. Bilbo bent down as if to pick something up. Now Harry was even more curious. When Bilbo came back up Harry saw something he'd never thought he would in his entire days.

Bilbo had found the One Ring.

Of course, it all made sense, Bilbo found the ring near Gollum's cave. But as Harry looked at the little ring which seemed to gleam, even in the darkest of places, he felt an overwhelming urge overtake him. It was ten times stronger than any power he had felt from any one of the horcruxes he had possessed. He wanted to grab it right there and run off, leaving Bilbo to his fate.

But luckily just before he could act on the urge Bilbo slipped the ring into his pocket and the urge left him.

What had he done? What had he almost done? Had it really changed his mind process so easily?

All these questions ran through his head as he almost mechanically followed Bilbo as the hobbit continued on his way down the passage. Deciding that he had bigger issues for now than to think about the ring he came back to himself and watched Bilbo closer than before. That ring could not get away from Bilbo, lest disaster occur.

Finally they came to the edge of what appeared to be an underground lake. Harry's eyes widened before he took out his wand. Still under the cloak, and intoned silently.

"Dissimulo Nidor"

This was a lucky spell to have when creatures like Gollum were about, it disguised you scent so as to make it almost invisible in certain surroundings to creatures with such keen senses as Gollum.

Speaking of the wretched creature he saw Bilbo staring straight at a point. Harry looked to where he was looking and almost jumped out of his skin when he saw two giant eyes right next to where his head should be if he were visible.

"What issss it, my preciousssss?" Gollum hissed. Bilbo drew Sting and pointed it at Gollum.

"Stay back, I warn you " the brave hobbit said. Gollum hissed even more when he saw the blade.

"What isss it? It hasss and elvissssh blade, preciousss, we musst know what it isss, yes we mussst" it hissed to itself. Harry had taken to calling Gollum and it, he believed that if there is any person such as Gollum that doesn't have an ounce of human (or hobbit, dwarf, wizard, elf, etc) then it cannot be called he or she. Such was this vile creature.

"I am Bilbo Baggins, a hobbit of the Shire" Bilbo said. Harry almost face palmed. You don't give away your identity to an unknown, especially to something like Gollum. Man he hated that thing.

"A hobbitsesss, what'sss a hobbitsesss preciousss? And can we eatsss it?" it said while moving forward gradually.

"You most certainly cannot eat it, me, oh you know what I mean!" Bilbo replied, getting quite flustered. Gollum hissed again, making a coughing noise that sounded something like "G-oh-llum! G-oh-llum!"

"This blade came out of Gondolin and is more than well enough equipped to handle you so I would suggest you stay back!" Bilbo said forcefully, dangling the weapon in front of Gollum threateningly. Gollum meanwhile had decided that a change of approach was needed, he became suspiciously polite all of a sudden.

"Praps ye sits here and chats with it a bitsy my preciousss, it likes riddles, praps it does, does it?" Gollum asked in what Harry presumed was meant to be a polite voice.

"Very well" Bilbo agreed. "You go first"

Gollum hissed:

What has roots as nobody sees,  
Is taller than trees,  
Up, up it goes,  
Yet it never grows

Harry was not much good at riddles but even he could guess this one. Apparently Bilbo could too.

"Easy!" he exclaimed "Mountains!"

"Does it gues easy? It must have a competition with us my preciousss! If preciousss asks, and it doesn't answer, then we does what it wants, eh? We shows it the way out, yes!" Gollum hissed. Harry looked to the hobbit, wondering if he was going to except.

"All right!" said Bilbo. Harry couldn't say he blamed him, the idea of Gollum eating him must have been rather terrifying for the hobbit, of course, Harry would never let that happen, but Bilbo didn't know that.

Thirty white horses on a red hill,  
First they champ,  
Then they stamp,  
Then they stand still

Bilbo asked. Harry looked towards Gollum and deflated when it looked like it knew the answer.

"Chestnuts, chestnuts," it hissed. "Teeth! Teeth! My preciousss; but we has only six" it continued, smiling to show only six gruesome teeth. Harry nearly shivered, he wanted this to be over soon, if just to get away from or to kill that thing.

Gollum then asked:

Voiceless it cries,  
Wingless flutters,  
Toothless bites,  
Mouthless mutters.

Both Bilbo and Harry thought for a moment. Harry had heard this one before, around a fire in the woods of Lothlorien with the elves there, so he knew the answer soon enough. Bilbo though looked as if he was struggling and Harry was getting ready to pounce if something were to go wrong.

"Wind, wind of course," Bilbo cried. Harry relaxed. Bilbo asked his next one.

An eye in a blue face  
Saw and eye in a green face.  
"That eye is like to this eye"  
Said the first eye,  
"But in low place,  
Not in high place"

Harry was stumped, he couldn't get it. Gollum seemed to be having some difficulty with this one as well. But just as Harry was getting his hopes up Gollum seemed to remember the answer.

"Sss, sss, sss" it hissed. "Sun on the daisies it means, it does"

Bilbo looked disappointed but before he could blink Gollum asked him one, it seemed it was getting impatient now, which worried Harry greatly.

It cannot be seen, cannot be felt,  
Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt.  
It lies behind stars and under hills,  
And empty holes it fills  
It comes first and follows after,  
Ends life, kills laughter

Bilbo seemed to know the answer straight away though and almost immediately he said "Dark!" Harry was impressed. Bilbo continued on.

A box without hinges, key, or lid.  
Yet golden treasure inside is hid,

Harry guessed right away but it seemed Gollum was having a problem with this one.

"Well, what is your answer?" Bilbo asked impatiently. Harry leaned over a bit.

"It mussst give usss time my preciousss!" it hissed. Suddenly after a while longer it appeared to found the answer.

"Eggses! My preciousss! Eggses!" Gollum hissed. Bilbo looked disappointed again. Gollum asked:

Alive without breath,  
As cold as death;  
Never thirsty, ever drinking,  
All in mail, never clinking.

Harry again was stumped. He would have lost in this game a long time ago. Bilbo to seemed awfully flustered. Gollum started moving towards him.

"Is it nice, my preciousss? Is it juicy? Is it scrumptiously crunchable?" it hissed. Harry too got up and moved towards them, he placed his wand at Gollums neck without touching it just incase Bilbo got the answer.

"Fish! Fish!" Bilbo exclaimed after a fish had jumped out of the water. Harry almost breathed a sigh of relief, saved by pure luck, which this hobbit seemed to have a lot of.

No-legs lay on one-leg, two-legs sat near on three legs, four-legs got some.

Harry blinked, then blinked again. How could anyone possibly get that? But Gollum seemed to know it because almost immediately it replied.

"Fish on a little table, man at table sitting on a stool, the cat hasss the bonesss!" it hissed. Finally it looked as if it had truly had enough of this game because it came up with a good one.

This things all things devours:  
Birds, beasts, trees, flowers;  
Gnaws iron, bites steel;  
Grinds hard stones to meal;  
Slays king, ruins town,  
And beats high mountains down.

It took even longer this time for Bilbo to get it and Gollum seemed to taste victory as he moved even closer.

"Give me more time!" Bilbo exclaimed before his eyes widened.

"Time! Time!" he squealed. Pure luck again had saved Bilbo Baggins. But it seemed that it was about to run out.

He couldn't think of another riddle.

"Come on!" Gollum hissed. "Ask us a question preciousss!"

Harry saw him desperately fumbling around for something, this was it! But Bilbo came through right at the last with something that made both Harry and Gollum blink.

"What have I got in my pocket?"

Harry looked at him, then thought about what Gollum had said. Bilbo asked him a question! Harry looked at the hobbit with even more respect than before.

"It's not fair! It's not fair! Hobbitses must give us three chances it must!" Gollum his in indignation.

"Very well" Bilbo replied. Gollum spluttered and hissed.

"Handses!" it guessed. Luckily Bilbo had just taken his hand out of his pocket.

"Nope, guess again, two left!" he replied.

"Knife!" it guessed after more spluttering.

"No, last chance"

After some time Gollum was in quite a state.

"Times up!" Bilbo finally said.

"String or nothing!" Gollum shrieked. Bilbo smirked triumphantly.

"Both wrong!" he said in relief. Harry sagged a bit as well. Though they were not out of it yet.

Gollum didn't immediately attack Bilbo ask he sat rocking back and forth whispering to himself.

"Well?" Bilbo said, finally getting impatient. "What about your promise? I want to go, you must show me the way!" he said.

"Did we say so preciousss? Show nasty little Baginses the way out, yes, yes. But what has it got in it's pocketses eh? No string, precious, but not nothing. Oh no! G-oh-llum!" it coughed and wheezed.

"Never you mind!" Bilbo replied. "A promise is a promise!"

"Cross it is, impatient, precious" Gollum said. Harry was starting to get worried now. "But it must wait, yes it must. We can't go up the tunnels so hasty. We must go and get some things first, yes, things to help us"

"Well, hurry up!" Bilbo said hastily, obviously now believing that Gollum was going to lead him out. Harry thought otherwise. He had an idea of what Gollum wanted and he wouldn't want to be with Bilbo to see what happens when it couldn't find it.

He would be there when he heard a screech so painstakingly high with so much pain and anger in it that it sent shivers down his spine.

"What have you lost?" Bilbo called, obviously able to make out some of the incoherent ramblings of Gollum

"It mustn't ask uss, noo, my preciousss, it's not it's business, it's losst! Gollum. Gollum. Gollum" It coughed and wheezed.

"Well, so am I" replied Bilbo "and I want to get unlost, and I won the game so you have to show me the way!" he said.

"No, not yet preciousss," Gollum answered "we must search for it, it's losst, Gollum"

"But you never guessed my question, and you promised!" Bilbo replied. Harry froze. 'Shit!' he thought. That would be all Gollum would need. And so it was.

"Never guessed!" said Gollum with a low hiss. "What has it got in it's pocketses? Tell us, it must tell us first"

"What have you lost? Tell me that!" Bilbo said more confidently than he sounded.

"What has it got in it's pocketses?" Gollum hissed, from very close to Bilbo now.

Bilbo ran, but as he got to one of the conjoining passages he tripped. Gollum leaped and was about to land when it was sent flying into a nearby wall. Bilbo looked around furiously before giving up and running. Harry, after delivering that very satisfying kick to the face of Gollum followed behind closely until Bilbo disappeared completely.

Harry froze, of course, the ring. This would make it a bit more difficult. He had to come out of hiding now.

"Bilbo!" He said.

"Harry?!" came the surprised reply. Harry saw Bilbo appear before he quickly grabbed him and swung the invisibility cloak over them, just in time too as Gollum came running past.

"Where is it preciousss and where is it's friend? I must get to the thief and his friend!" it hissed. Harry didn't say anything as he pulled himself and Bilbo, both still under the cloak, along behind Gollum. Hoping to find the exit.

After a while of chasing Gollum stopped by the exit to the mountains. This was their chance Harry thought. They could kill him now. He drew his wand and pointed it at Gollum. Though just as he was about to cast Gollum collapsed in a heap, crying.

Harry looked at it…..him with a growing amount of pity. He looked to his side to see Bilbo looking at him with the same expression. Slowly he lowered his wand and started edging his way around Gollum. Not before he got one more kick in on him though. That probably hadn't been the wisest decision as Gollum flew into a fit of rage as they exited the passage into the open air.

"We hates Bagginses! We hates it forever!" it screeched.

They had made it, all the way through the Misty Mountains.

AN: Well, that took a while, really fun to write though, I love this scene in the book and the movie, so it was really fun for me to write with Harry in, hope you enjoyed it, see you in the next chapter! BYE!


	10. You What?

AN: Hello again friends! Welcome back for the first chapter in a while, hope you enjoy it and I'll talk to you again in a bit!

Chapter 9 - You what?

Harry took his first breath of the clean air since they'd been dumped into that place. The birds were singing and the sun was shining bright upon them. But Harry knew that he and Bilbo had no time to waste, goblins would be upon them soon enough and they had to find the others.

The only comfort Harry could find was that they were now out in the open, and from what he had learnt of goblins from his time in Middle Earth was that they hated sunlight. It was in fact the only reason they hadn't encountered any goblins standing guard outside the exit to the caverns.

However the day was growing old and the sun seemed to be slowly setting on the horizon. They kept running until they heard voices, by this time they were deep into the woods, voices that sounded rather like Gandalf and Thorin. Harry turned to his left, it appeared that in their haste down to their current location they had completely missed running past Balin who had obviously heard them and was looking around frantically.

His attention however, was diverted at the sound of a very heated Thorin talking to the company at last.

"..well obviously he has seen this as his chance and taken it. No, I don't think we'll be seeing Mr Baggins again," he continued. Harry looked down towards the hobbit, who had a contemplative look on his face. He leant down slowly so as not to be heard by the rest.

"You can leave you know, no one is stopping you, but remember this, even if you do return to your own home, where you are safe from harm," Harry said in barely a whisper. Bilbo by this point had a wistful smile on his faith at the thought of his own home. But Harry ploughed on "even if you do choose to give up on this quest and go back to your comfortable little life, you won't be any better off for it"

"What do you mean?" Bilbo whispered back, his expression one of confusion.

Harry sighed "You have come too far to turn back now, seen too much for it to go back to the way it was, besides, would you not be abandoning these dwarves, your friends…" he said but Bilbo interrupted.

"But are they my friends? You heard what Thorin said, he doesn't want me here, what if everyone else is of the same opinion,? All I'm doing is holding everyone back" he said, looking at the ground. Harry spared a glance to the group who were looking solemn at the supposed loss of their friend.

"Bilbo, you hear it said scarcely these days, but that doesn't make it any less true, sometimes the littlest of people can make the biggest of differences in the end" he said, inclining his head towards the others. Bilbo looked up towards the faces of the company. He stared for a long while. Eventually he seemed to have come to a decision.

His face set, his eyes determined, he slowly lifted the cloak over his head, and marched into the camp. Harry stared after him. No going back now.

"You won't be getting rid of your burglar that easily, Bilbo Baggins, at your service" Bilbo exclaimed. The reaction of the others was comical, they were all staring at Bilbo in shock. Chaos broke loose as everyone ran up to hug Bilbo, Gandalf especially seemed quite pleased to see the young hobbit.

"Bilbo Baggins, I don't think I've ever been as pleased to see anyone in my entire life" the old wizard exclaimed in relief.

Then came the inevitable questions. Harry got ready for his cue.

"Where's Harry? Wasn't he with you?" asked Bofur, or was it Bifur.

"Um," Bilbo started. That was his cue. Harry tore of the cloak and ran into the camp. Time to put his acting skills to the test.

"Have you got Bilbo with you?" he asked quickly, making a show of being in a panic, Bilbo owed him for this later, he'd never been much of a liar.

"Yes, yes, Bilbo is here, safe and sound, we thought you were lost as well, until we got your message, how on earth did you manage to lose him?" Gandalf exclaimed. Harry tried his best to look sheepish.

"Well, it was dark down there, didn't want to make a light just in case I startled Bilbo when he woke up or if it attracted some goblins, plus hobbits are remarkably light on their feet, quiet as a mouse he was," Harry said, stuttering a bit in the middle, luckily none of the dwarves noticed it, but judging by the slight rise of one of Gandalf's bushy eyebrows he did, Harry continued nevertheless.

"So engrossed was I in my own thoughts I didn't notice until only a short time ago that Bilbo was gone, that is when I got up and rushed towards the exit, and here I am" he finished. He hoped no one questioned why he didn't just pick Bilbo up and run out of there. Luckily everyone had accepted Harry's story as fact and were questioning Bilbo about his tale.

And so it was that over the next couple of hours Bilbo told his tale, minus Harry, of being separated from the group to meeting Gollum in his cave to the game of riddles and then finally his escape.

So engrossed were they in his tale that they didn't notice a low growl that came from the trees around. All except for Gandalf who jumped up immediately.

"RUN!" he exclaimed. "The enemy are upon us!"

Harry jumped up also, it was true, they were almost surrounded by Wargs, most had Orcs riding them. Luckily there was a wide enough gap for them to run into. And did they run, Harry occasionally sending curses back towards the advancing pack.

It wasn't looking good.

There was no way they were going to outrun the enemy, not with Bilbo tagging along to one of the dwarves, was it Dwalin? Anyway, Gandalf seemed to have come to the same conclusion, but he had a plan also.

"Climb the trees!" he shouted. And everyone did so, Bilbo only just got up before a Warg snapped at the air he had previously been in.

Harry surveyed the pack. There were a lot of them that's for sure, luckily none with a rider on had joined the hunt yet, but that wouldn't last. Only then did he notice something that made their situation even worse, if that was possible.

It seemed, that in their panic, they had gotten to the edge of a big cliff. Harry, being one of the tallest, was highest up on the tree and therefore had the longest way to fall if he were to be knocked off. Only Gandalf was higher than him. He apparently had noticed the cliff as well, but he didn't appear to be paying too much attention to it.

He was surveying a pine cone which he had plucked from one of the branches. Harry caught on pretty quickly.

"DO IT!" he shouted over the terrible howls of the Wargs. Gandalf looked over at him, before nodding and raising his staff.

He muttered something and the pine cone went alight. He then hurled it down to the gathered Wargs, who had now been joined by the orcs.

Fire quickly spread around them as the dry leaves caught ablaze. The Wargs howled even louder for they hated fire. The orcs were having a hard time keeping their wargs under control.

Then a loud voice filled the air.

"Ack-lak nyet" it boomed.

Immediately all the Wargs quietened down and turned to the voice. Harry looked too. His eyes widened upon the sight. Of course he'd heard the tales of the Battle of Moria, the battle in which the White Org, most powerful and dreadful of all the orcs, was slain by Thorin who was using nowt but an old log for protection.

It seemed the White Org still lived.

He'd heard rumours of it, but had never seen him with his own eyes. And dreadful he was. His size was the first thing that caught Harry's attention, whereas he was usually as tall as any other orc, this one was much taller than him, taller than Gandalf also. He seemed to loom over them, exuding an aura of malice and cruelty.

Harry saw Thorin looking open mouthed at his enemy, obviously he thought like everyone else that the White Org was dead.

Suddenly Harry heard a cry to his left, and without wasting a second he reached out and caught what turned out to be Bombur who had slipped and would have fallen to his doom Harry not caught him.

Now, you must understand that Bombur was incredibly fat. Harry had to summon nearly all of his strength to even hold onto him. Using his last reserves he heaved Bombur back up onto the branch.

Amidst the wave of thank yous coming from Bombur no one noticed the White Org draw his bow and shoot an arrow into the tree.

Next thing Harry knew a searing pain entered his left shoulder. He looked down to see an arrow protruding from his shoulder. He stared at it in shock. Everything seemed to be going in slow motion as he, already falling backwards, tumbled off of the branch and plummeted to the ground. All this had happened before Bombur even had time to think.

"NO!" the dwarf shouted as he watched the wizard who'd saved his life moments before fall to the ground far below the cliff top.

Gandalf, upon hearing the cry of the dwarf, turned to see the same sight. His eyes widened and he rushed to the edge of the branch to try and do something.

But it was too late.

As Harry fell he felt a strange sense of peace mixed with regret. Peace because after all these years it was finally over for him. But regret that he couldn't help the dwarves more and return to Dee, his Dee.

That was his last thought before blackness engulfed him.

Harry woke up to a bright light.. He had to shield his eyes. This seemed very familiar. Dying, Harry decided, was fast becoming a regular routine. But this time would be the last time, he was sure of it.

Finally, after his eyes had adjusted he sat up slowly. Looking around he saw that he wasn't in Kings Cross and there was no Dumbledore waiting for him. This was good, he didn't particularly fancy going back now. What he did see though took his breath away.

He was in a garden. A beautiful garden. A garden the likes of which could never be seen or had never been seen on either of the worlds Harry had been in. The trees and the flowers seemed to radiate a sense of calm that washed over Harry's entire being. He felt refreshed, rejuvenated, happy. And that was something he hadn't truly felt in a long time, or ever. Dying the first time paled in comparison to this.  
The grass was so green and lustrous and the plants so vibrant and colourful that it would have given Professor Sprout a heart attack. The sky was a clear, light shade of blue. The sun shone down upon the garden so magnificently that it made all the different shades of colours look that much brighter.

Harry felt happiness. Harry felt clam. Harry felt joy.

But most of all, Harry felt at peace.

A voice from behind him broke him out of his thoughts.

"Wonderful isn't it?"

Harry turned around to see a tall man standing there. But that wasn't the first thing he noticed. No, the first thing he noticed about this man was that there was a tremoudous power within him that Harry wouldn't have noticed if it was not so large that it was literally radiating off of him. The man himself had dark brown hair, a kind but strict face and startling blue eyes which also radiated power beyond anything Harry had ever felt before.

The man was wearing a long tunic with gold linings which sparkled in the sunlight. Harry gathered up his courage and spoke.

"Yes" was all that came out of his mouth. Harry almost slapped himself, was that the best he could come up with in front of someone as obviously important as this man was. But it seemed that the man didn't mind his lack of words. He chuckled and looked out over the garden.

"Indeed, it is quite magnificent if I do say so myself, we did well in the making of this place" he said with pride in his voice. "Anyway," he continued "you know where you are Harry James Potter, do you not?"

Harry thought over it for a minute before shaking his head "I would like to say that I do, but from what I have learnt of Valinor, I had thought that there were more buildings" he replied, looking around at the completely natural environment.

"Well," the man replied "we are in the area between Valinor and Arda, this place is what we who are members of the Valar like to call Kostos, this is the place where we meet beings who's situations are much more complex than that of others who pass to the shores of Valinor"

Harry sighed. He was getting a strong sense of Deja Vu.

"What makes my death so complex?" Harry asked "And may be so humble as to ask for your name please?"

"Of course, my name is Manwe, I am the King of the Valar, and as for what makes your situation complex will be explained, if you would join me on a walk?" the man replied. Harry nodded.

"Of course" he said. And so they set off.

"First I have a question for you," Manwe started "do you know the reasons for your journey to Middle Earth from your own on?"

"I seem to remember laying on the roof of Grimmauld Place when I made a wish, that is all I remember before I woke up in the woods of Rivendell" Harry replied. Manwe sighed.

"Yes, you did make a wish, but that was not all that brought you to this world Harry Potter, your wish was only the catalyst for things that would have come about anyway, you see it would seem that the One had taken a keen interest in you even before your birth" he said.

"Wait," Harry said "you can't mean THE One, as in Eru, the creator of Middle Earth?"

"You would do well not to interrupt," Manwe said "but yes, I do mean THE One, as you put it, as I was saying, Eru had taken a keen interest in you and intended to keep a close watch on how you faired, despite almost never interfering in the affairs of the worlds below" he said.

"As he watched you grow he became even more convinced that you were the one who would do great things, defeat great evils, his point of view was solidified when you were but 1 year old" he continued.

"When my parents died" Harry said in a whisper to himself. Manwe nodded.

"He saw the first fall of the dark wizard Voldemort and immediately contacted me and the other members of the Valar, you can understand our surprise when he did this, as we had not heard from him in thousands of years, at the grand council he made it abundantly clear to us that when the time was right we were to bring you here so that he could help you fulfil your ultimate destiny" he said. Harry's mind was reeling at this point. Eru himself wanted him. But the question still remained.

"And what is my ultimate destiny? Because I'll be frank with you, I thought the role of destiny in my life ended with the fulfilment of that prophecy" Harry replied. Manwe sighed again.

"It seems that destiny will always have a role to play in your life Harry Potter, and as for your ultimate destiny, that is remained to be seen, for even we do not know yet, ah, it looks like the time has come, good luck and remember, the good of the Valar is shining down upon you always" Manwe finished. Harry was about to ask what time had come when Manwe faded out of existence.

Harry almost jumped out of his skin when a loud, booming voice echoed around the garden and him.

"Are you Harry James Potter, son of James and Lilian Potter, grandson of Charles and Dorea Potter?" the voice boomed. Harry just nodded mutely, unable to form words at the sight that was emerging in front of him. Not even registering the names of his grandparents whom he'd never known, nor the fact that his mother's full name was Lilian, not Lily. His eyes were transfixed on the sight in front of him.

A giant man, taller than the sky itself, was looming over him. He was so tall that Harry could not see his face so he had not idea what the man looked like, but he didn't need to, he could feel the waves of power, quadruple the size of Manwe's, pouring off of this man, no, being.

"Eru" he breathed. And there could not have been a more perfect scenario for that term.

"Very well then, as you seem to not be fond of, or able to talk at the moment I suppose I better explain why you are here" the being, obviously Eru, boomed. Again Harry nodded.

"Well Mr Potter, you have been quite the mystery to me, for long have I wondered when I would find the final member of the Valar, the one who was destined to put to rest any conflict that happened in the lands beyond, and here you come, defeating the most powerful Dark Lord your world has ever seen, when you were just one summer old, that, as you may have heard, was not only due to the love your mother had for you, though it was great, but the power that is sealed away in your very being, just waiting to be released"

Harry, by this time, had lost the function of his mouth, as his jaw had dropped right onto the floor, metaphorically you understand.

"There must be some kind of mistake, I'm nothing truly special as you say I am" Harry spluttered, finally talking.

Eru chuckled, a deep, booming laugh that again echoed around the garden which lay all but forgotten to Harry who was in the midst of a nervous breakdown. "I assure you, I do not make mistakes, not on a matter like this, now, I think it is high time you got back to the living world, you have much to do, don't worry, when you wake up you will know what to do. Oh but first.." he trailed off.

Harry almost ran when a large hand reached down, seeming to shrink as it descended until it was right by his forehead where is was normal sized and touched his forehead.

And for the second time that day, or was it month, Harry James Potter knew no more.

AN: Oooohhh! How bout that! Hey everyone thank you for being patient with me, I know I haven't been updating much lately but hopefully now that exams are over I can start up again. That was a very different chapter, let me know what you think about it. This isn't meant to be a preaching video about religion and stuff, it is all centred around the Tolkein-verse and is in no way representative of reality, but I hope you know that already Thanks again for your patience and reading this fic, BYE!


	11. New Beginnings

AN: I'm back, just a really short Author's note at the beginning of this chapter saying sorry for not updating quickly, hope you enjoy Harry's 'New Beginnings"!

Chapter 11 - New Beginnings

A cool breeze was blowing against his cheeks.

That was the first thing Harry noted when his conscious mind caught up with itself. He didn't open his eyes yet, choosing to enjoy the first moment of peace he'd had since they set off from Rivendell.

Although, that rock poking him in the back was beginning to get rather irritating.

Finally after a while of laying there, his eyes fluttered open. He found that he was looking up the face of the cliff. Why on earth he would be doing that was at that very moment a mystery to him.

Just like that the memories came pouring back of the previous….night? Day? Month? Year? All these questions raced through his mind as the memories of saving Bombur, an arrow sticking out of his shoulder, falling….falling….

The meeting with Manwe and Eru were the memories which stuck out most in his mind. He had yet another destiny to fulfill.

"Just brilliant" he muttered to himself.

He then looked down at himself. Everything seemed to be in place. No rocks sticking out of his stomach, no cuts, no bruises even. Harry counted his lucky stars (no pun intended) that Eru at least had the courtesy of healing him before sending him back to this place.

Speaking of which Harry turned towards the matter of what he was going to do next. Apparently, according to Eru, he would know what to do. Well, he could use that instinct right about now.

He looked up and decided that his first course of action was to get back up onto the cliff top and assess the damage done, whether or not the others had survived. A knot formed in his stomach. What if they hadn't made it?

Would it be his fault?

No. He refused to think like that, he'd been there and done that. He knew blaming himself would get him nowhere.

He took a deep breath and disappeared. He appeared at the top of the cliff. Looking around he saw partial devastation. Trees were burnt and charred. There was still the faint smell of burnt orc, along with a carcus here or there.

But there was no sign at all of any dwarf, hobbit or wizard. Harry relaxed slightly. At least they got away. But now he was faced with a dilemma. Should he go after them or should he focus his attention on the remaining orcs. This was his chance if he wanted to take it. He had no obligation to help the dwarves other than his promise to Gandalf.

His promise.

"God damn my stupid saving people thing" he mumbled to himself as he turned towards the cliff face which he'd previously fallen down. Looking out over the vast stretches of hills, trees, the occasional small mountain. He knew it deep down already, his decision was already made for him. But that didn't mean he had to like it.

Opening his backpack which he'd carried with him all throughout his journey in Middle Earth he reached in, searching for one of his most prized possessions. Just when he was beginning to get annoyed he felt a stinging pain in his hand. Removing it he found a splinter in the middle of his palm. Pulling the splinter out he figured he must have found what he was looking for and put his hand back in again.

He grasped his hand around a wooden frame and pulled. His Firebolt came out relatively easily, but that wasn't what Harry was focused on.

His broomstick never used to be that short.

It was like a punch to the gut. He stared, wide eyed, at the remaining half of his beloved broomstick. His only reminder of Sirius. His best means of transportation with which he could find the dwarves, short of apperating to a random place and hoping for the best.

Harry stared for what felt like an age before sighing. There was no use getting upset about it now. Now he had more important things to think about. Like finding the dwarves.

"I must be freaking insane" he muttered to himself. He shouldered his pack and was about to start running when his head seared with pain. It was only for a moment but in that moment an image flashed across his mind. It was a large house. A house that seemed vaguely familiar. It wasn't until a large man walked out of the front door of the house that Harry knew where it was.

Coming back to reality he blinked. Eru's words coming back to him "You will know what to do." This must have been what he was talking about. He wasn't too happy about having visions, that was entirely too Voldemort-esque for his liking, but he supposed if they were helpful he could live with them.

He twisted on the spot and a air sucking moment later he was stood in a wood. Peeking through the trees he could see the large house from his vision. It certainly had been quite a while since he had last seen Beorn. Not since he had fought off a pack of Wargs who were attacking a large bear. Needless to say Beorn had been grateful, Harry hoped he remembered that otherwise his prescence might not be welcome.

He grinned however, when he saw that large form of Bombur close the door behind him. At least the dwarves and no doubt Gandalf had gotten away. How he had yet to know but he was just glad they did. Walking towards the house he decided to listen in to the conversation before knocking. Wouldn't want to arrive in the middle of an important part of the story after all. He smiled remembering Beorn's fondness for stories. No doubt Gandalf was explaining all about their adventures so far.

And so he waited, listening to the tail of the Misty Mountains told all over again. Only when it got to the point of him falling off the cliff did he decide to make his entrance.

Grinning he went up to the front door. He knocked twice loudly.

"Know who could that be? Not another one of yours I hope" Beorn thundered as his large footsteps rumbled across the wooden floor towards the door.

As the door opened Harry had a good view of the dwarves, Bilbo and Gandalf sitting around a table. He smiled enigmatically at them.

"Didn't miss too much did I?" he said cheerfully. The looks one all of their faces was one that he would treasure until his dying day. All the dwarves sat there agape, except from Thorin of course who merely settled for wide eyes. Bilbo was of a similar expression to the dwarves, except with wide eyes and mouth agape. Gandalf merely had slightly raised eyebrows, trust that grumpy old wizard to expect him even in death.

"HARRY!" they all shouted and the next thing he knew he found himself at the bottom of a dwarf pile, struggling to breath while Gandalf chuckled merrily.

"Good Eru, well if it isn't Mr Potter himself, long time no see eh?" Beorn boomed. Harry, having extracted himself from the dwarves and Bilbo, coughed and wheezed a few times before straightening himself up and smiling at the giant man who reminded him vaguely of Hagrid with his love of animals and gigantic size.

"Indeed Mr Beorn, long time no see, I'm sure you'll forgive me for not visiting sooner, pressing matters elsewhere you understand?" Harry said. Beorn smiled.

"Of course, of course, we were actually in the middle of a story which involved you, and judging by the surprise of your companions, they did not expect to see you?" he said. Harry looked a bit sheepish.

"Yes well, I had a bit of a nasty fall, took me a while to get back up again you see" he said. Bombur snorted.

"Yes a nasty fall, a nasty fall of well over 100 ft which by all means should have killed you" he laughed. "How on Earth did you get back up from that?"

"That, Bombur my friend, is a story for another time, and I would like to know how you escaped all of those orcs in one piece" Harry replied with a big smile towards the group at a whole.

"We were just getting to that bit I think?" Beorn said. Gandalf nodded with a small smile and indicated for Harry to have a seat.

"Yes, as I was saying before I was interrupted," here he threw a look at Harry, Harry just smirked in reply "we were completely surrounded, no way of escape, then I turn around to find Mr Potter here with an arrow sticking out of his shoulder, falling to his doom off of a 100 ft cliff, after that set back we really were looking toast" Gandalf said. There were murmurs of agreement from all those around. Gandalf continued.

"Then low and behold, help arrives in the form of about 10 giant eagles, magnificent as legend tells them to be, swooped in and took out all the Wargs they did, then, as if saving us from those terrors wasn't enough they were kind enough to give us a lift to their home, after which they carried us to the edge of your woods, and here we are" he finished. Harry looked impressed, he had actually not had the pleasure of meeting one of the great eagles but he had heard all about them from Gandalf and they sounded truly magnificent.

"That is truly a great tale, whether it is true or not, if only all beggars could tell such great tales they might find me a bit kinder" Beorn chuckled. There was nervous laughing around the room, apparently the dwarves weren't very encouraged by Beorn's words.

Dinner that night was a welcome time for Harry, who had only just realised how hungry he was, having not eaten in at least two or three days. He gobbled down all sorts of delicious things, the dwarves and Bilbo, despite eating with the Eagles that morning ate with a similar enthusiasm. Gandalf merely observed whilst chewing his own tea.

After a couple of days of rest and much housework as instructed by Beorn the company was quite ready to set off again. Provided food and water from Beorn which would easily last them a week or so, and some ponies which would take them to the edge of Mirkwood forest but no farther, the company and Gandalf set off again.

"Remember Mr Potter, you are always welcome 'round these parts, all you have to do is knock" Beorn shouted to him. Harry waved back with a smile on his face. He might just do that sometime.

It took them a while to come to any sort of defining landmark. A day at least. The landmark was a river which ran as far as the eye could see, not that the eye could see far, what with all the trees in the way. Gandalf, after much deliberation and not a few exasperated sighs from Harry, decided that they should journey left, up the river.

As they got further up the river the air around them seemed to get gloomier, it may have been the thought of going into the feared forest or the forest itself which loomed upon them like a dark mist.

They eventually got to a crossing point where Gandalf, who was leading them, stopped. This in turn caused the spirits of the company to drop significantly, they had all known that the point which Gandalf and possibly Harry would be leaving them would come eventually, but that didn't mean they had to like it.

Harry sighed as he looked upon the gathered dwarves and hobbit. He knew he could stay. He knew he still had help which could be offered. But he knew his help might also be needed with a much bigger threat.

It was his choice in the end, one choice was going with the company into Mirkwood and onto the Lonely Mountain, the other was the accompany Gandalf to the abandoned stronghold of Dol Guldur to fight the Necromancer. The question was where was he needed most.

Sighing again, he seemed to do that a lot these days, he beckoned Gandalf over whilst the dwarves were stripping the ponies of their supplies and rationing it out between them. Gandalf caught his gesture and walked over to him.

"Yes my friend?" he said when he was sure the dwarves and Bilbo could hear them.

"What do I do Gandalf? I could easily abandon these dwarves and Bilbo and go with you to Dol Guldur, that is where you're going right?" he asked. Gandalf looked surprised but slowly nodded.

"That is where I am going, and therefore I shall answer your first question like this: What do you feel would be the right thing to do? For sometimes, one must make the choice between what is right and what is easy" he replied. Harry blinked. Then blinked again. Before resigning himself to his fate.

"I have to go with them don't I?" he said. Gandalf raised his bushy eyebrows.

"No, no you do not have to go with them no, no, no, it is completely your choice" he replied. Harry thought for a moment before steeling himself, then nodding to Gandalf, who smiled back at him.

Striding back over to the company he said in a loud clear voice.

"After talking with Gandalf, I believe that it would be beneficial for all of us for me to accompany all of you into the forest"

The mood of the company considerably improved again after that announcement, the dwarves were expressing their thanks, even Thorin seemed happy to have a wizard accompanying them into the forest.

With a smile on his face Harry turned towards the forest. His smile slid off of his face as he looking deep into the darkness on the other side of the river.

This could only go badly.

AN: There we go, I'M OVER MY WRITERS BLOCK! YAY! Seriously though, I'm sorry it took so long to update but I think I hit the wall when I started to write this chapter ages ago and it has taken me a while to get over it, hopefully updating won't be as much of a problem from now on. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, what dangers await Harry and the dwarves in Mirkwood forest? See you later! BYE!


	12. I knew a guy who didn't like spiders

AN: Hope you enjoy this chapter! See you in a bit!

Chapter 11 - I once knew a guy who didn't like spiders

After many goodbyes had been exchanged between Gandalf and each one of the dwarves the grey wizard turned on his pony and trotted off back down the river. Harry looked around at the faces, all were watching Gandalf leave with a mournful expression. Harry too was sad that the wizened wizard could not accompany them any further on the trip but he knew the importance of Gandalf's other mission. It was, dare he say it, more important than reclaiming some gold (however large the haul was) from a greedy dragon.

Deciding that it wouldn't do for the company to enter a dangerous forest like Mirkwood in low spirits he clapped his hands.

"Now everyone, do not look so glum, Gandalf has come far with you, much farther than he originally intended to. You should be grateful for that alone, this is your mission anyway. Why don't we enter this forest with high hopes and jolly spirits rather than with the air of a particularly depressing funeral?" he said to the group. They all still looked rather depressed. Many kept glancing towards the forest as if it was going to spring legs and attack them. Harry sighed, turning on his heel he began to march over the bridge.

But before his feet hit the bridge there came a call from behind him.

"Mr Potter, may we discuss something before we cross into the unknown?" It was Thorin.

"I'm listening" Harry said as he turned his head. Thorin seemed to steel himself.

"I have been thinking, since we left Rivendell the matter of your reward has troubled me greatly-" he said. But Harry cut across him.

"I've told you I don't need a reward, helping you claim back your birthright is more than enough"

"I insist, you have helped us a great deal on this quest, you simply must be rewarded" he insisted. Harry looked at Thorin with a new respect. He knew how much dwarves coveted their treasure. It was almost legendary. For one to insist on giving some away would have been thought absolutely astonishing.

"Hmm, since you insist I will consent to receive a little treasure, not so much as to make a noticeable dent in any of your shares but enough to get me by for a while." Harry replied. Thorin looked relieved that Harry wasn't demanding too much. He continued "Thank You Thorin, I know that dwarves covet gold more than anything and for you to willingly cut me in on a share must have taken a lot, you have my respect Thorin Oakenshield" with that he bowed slightly. Thorin inclined his head.

"Now then," Harry said turning to the rest of the group who were gaping at Thorin "shall we?"

And so they set of into the dark forest. Trees towered above them on either side. The further the company went in, the darker it seemed to get. Harry would have lit his wand or at least a fire if there were not the fact that it would attract some rather unwanted attention from the creatures of the forest.

Needless to say that most of them were rather miserable.

Even Harry, who had been encouraging them at every opportunity, was beginning to feel sparks of doubt creep through him.

"Will this bloody forest never end" he muttered. Thorin, who seemed to be having a worse time than most, snapped.

"See! Even the all powerful wizard is having a hard time of it, I say we light a fire and be done with it"

"You know why we can't do that Thorin, the reasons I hope are obvious" Harry replied with as much patience as he could muster, gesturing to the dark forest that surrounded them, that boxed them in.

"I should hope that you are not afraid wizard" Thorin sneered. Harry glared at him.

"Not for my safety, but how much chance do you think a hobbit has against things like spiders or orcs, no offence Bilbo" he said the last part mainly to the small hobbit, who merely gave a small understanding, albeit tired, smile. Harry turned back to Thorin who was looking mutinous.

"My job is to look out for all of you, and that job will be a hell of a lot more difficult if we have all manner of dark creature vying for our throats" he said. Looking around at the company he could see that not many people truly understood the need to be inconspicuous. Lack of food after days in a dark forest with little to no sunlight could have had something to do with this.

Thorin huffed angrily before turning and storming off. Some of the other dwarves made to go follow him but Balin held them back.

"Let him be for a while, he needs to stew over for a bit before he will be in any state to talk more" he said quietly. The others nodded while Harry stood, staring at the place where Thorin had been.

He was reminded forcefully of Ron. All those years ago. Had it really been that long ago, that night in the tent when things had almost gone so wrong. Admittedly there was no Horcrux to contend with this time, but with the darkness that surrounded them constantly there may as well have been.

He thought back to his friends. A longing which he hadn't known since his first year in Middle Earth crept up on him. He felt ashamed, ashamed that he had so easily forgotten his friends, his friends that would always stand by him no matter what. His friends that gave him the courage to defeat Voldemort. He thought of Tonks. He had only just gotten together with her before his unceremonious departure. Longing to see her and Teddy also came swiftly and painfully.

"But Dee…" a voice in his mind kept saying.

He had avoided the subject of his home world for years now, mostly because of the fact that he would never be able to return, or he hadn't found any way to yet. Maybe he should ask Gandalf about that next time he saw him…

No. He had work to do. He had to help the dwarves.

Or did he.

Yes he did, he would help them reclaim their home. Home. Harry wondered if he would ever know a place like it. The closest he had come was Rivendell but even that seemed wrong, like he was intruding. Could he find a place in his old world? If it was possible?

"No!" he mumbled to himself sharply. A few of the dwarves looked up at his mumble but brushed it off. Harry however was to ingrained in his own thoughts to notice.

He couldn't leave Dee, his Dee, he had promised that he would come back to her. He had promised that they would be together.

As he was having his internal struggle the other dwarves were setting up for the night, not that there was much to do. The rations which Beorn had given to them were running out and with each passing day the bags got lighter and lighter. Here and now they only had a few pieces of bread and some meat between the lot of them.

Things were looking bleak. As each dwarf settled down for the night Harry was wide awake. This had become a routine, Harry would keep watch while the dwarves slept. Then he would sleep for a couple of hours whilst the dwarves began to wake up. But tonight Harry had no thought of sleep.

'Where is Thorin?' he thought. He was sure that the irate dwarf didn't usually take this long to cool off.

Slowly he stood up and walked off in the direction Thorin had stormed just a couple of hours earlier. He didn't even realise that he was abandoning his post, he just kept walking, as if in a trance.

There was music. Loud music coming from ahead of him. There was a light. A bright light from a clearing that also housed the music. Peeking around a tree at the edge of the clearing Harry saw a magnificent sight.

Elves, many elves all sat around a fire singing merrily and eating a feast that made his mouth water with hunger. Without even thinking about what he was doing he made his way into the clearing. As soon as the elves saw him they jumped in fright and dashed off into the trees, all light had gone out.

Harry, looking completely bewildered at the sudden turn of events, reached into his pocket for his wand to give him some light but just as his hands closed around the cool wood a sharp pain entered his stomach.

Doubled over he fell to the ground, his body suddenly felt like it was burning, using the last of his strength he looked around and saw a sight he had never thought he would see again.

Spiders, all around him were spiders. Not as big as Aragog but big enough to be some of his close relatives. Yet again he was reminded of his excursions into the forest with Ron back in his second year at Hogwarts.

'How could I have been so careless?' was the last thought he had before slipping into darkness.

Slowly the feeling was coming back into his limbs. Harry tried to move them as he got his bearings but soon realised that it was fruitless. All the blood rushing to his head was very distracting.

That was when he realised that he was upside down. He flailed wildly but none of his limbs would move. He appeared to be stuck in some sort of sticky white substance (AN: Mind out of the gutter people :L). He soon deduced that the spiders which attacked him must have cocooned him in a web.

"Well this is just brilliant" he mumbled although he wasn't really able to articulate words with the web tightly wrapped around his head.

If he could just reach his wand…

But he never found out if he could have reached it as the web surrounding his head was ripped open. Opening his eyes (which luckily no longer needed glasses, something to do with wishing yourself away to another world having strange side effects) he looked in shock as he found none other than Bilbo Baggins staring straight back at him. He shock must have been reflected in his face as Bilbo gave him a small smile before he cut the rest of the web off letting Harry fall to the ground with a thump.

Star dancing at the corners of his eyes he pushed himself up and looked to Bilbo. It appeared that, in his stupidity, he had managed to let the dwarves get captured also. One by one Bilbo released all of the dwarves. Whilst he did this Harry looked around. What he saw made him gape yet again.

There were spider carcasses lying everywhere. Littering the ground like the leaves that had fallen from the trees. He looked back over to Bilbo with a newfound respect.

It turned out he was wrong. Bilbo, with the help of the ring, had managed to fend off the spiders who were about to eat them. Of course everyone thanked Bilbo profusely. Harry smiled at the hobbit, maybe some of his advice outside the exit to the Misty Mountains had paid off, not that he was conceited or anything.

He looked around, expecting to see that Thorin had been caught as well, but seeing no sign of him.

"Has anyone seen Thorin?" he asked them all. They all stopped and looked around at each other before shaking their heads. Harry sighed. Just brilliant.

Pulling out his wand he said "Point me Thorin" his wand spun until it settled on one direction. Beckoning the others to follow him he moved forward. After about 20 minutes of following Harry's wand things went a bit wrong.

Out of the darkness they leapt, there must have been about 50 of them. Wood elves that is. In the commotion that followed Harry jumped to the side and pulled out his invisibility cloak. Flinging it over himself he was just in time to see the Elves march off with the dwarves, and yet he spotted no hobbit in sight. He grinned, Bilbo certainly was a crafty one.

Softly he called out "Bilbo?" there was no answer. Louder this time he repeated it "Bilbo?"

There came a rustling and low and behold Bilbo appeared, looking around for the source of the calling. Taking the cloak off he smiled down at the hobbit.

"You know, you may make a habbit of saving these dwarves, you have more than earned your share Bilbo Baggins" Harry said. Bilbo smiled back.

"Indeed, but we should probably go after those bloody elves before they get away or we'll never find them again" Harry nodded and together they set off, saving dwarves was beginning to become a bit of a habbit.

AN: I know it's a bit short and that the ending was a bit rubbish but I hope you enjoyed it anyway, finally got to the discussion about the share as some have been asking for. Hope you enjoyed it, see you soon, BYE!


	13. Wood Elves and Fights

AN: Hello again guys, long time no see. Sorry this has taken so long but school is manic at the moment with exam preparation and stuff so I haven't had the time or the energy, hope you enjoy this chapter anyway!

Chapter 12 - Wood Elves and Fights

Harry watched in astonishment as Bilbo nimbly moved between the large trunks of the trees, over and under braches, around bushes. All the while keeping extraordinarily silent. The only sound that could be heard was the crunching under many feet which obviously came from the elves and the 12 probably disgruntled dwarves. Harry was only able to stay silent whilst moving with a silencing charm on his feet.

Without it the elves probably would have heard him within the first 10 metres.

He checked again to make sure that the elves were within sight, which was particularly difficult in the dense and dark forest. Harry had at first insisted that Bilbo keep the ring on so that they wouldn't be seen, but the hobbit was having none of it. When Harry asked why Bilbo mumbled something about the ring feeling wrong before setting off quickly in the direction the dwarves had been taken.

Harry, sans the invisibility cloak as it would hinder his movement, followed at a brisk pace. He mused that it was probably a good idea that they weren't invisible so they wouldn't lose each other. Harry dreaded to think of the little hobbit lost alone in the wide, seemingly never-ending forest. Not just because Gandalf would murder him.

Suddenly Harry heard a rustle in the bushes behind him. He froze. Bilbo seemed to have heard it too as he slowly turned round. Harry's worst fears were confirmed when the hobbit's eyes went round as saucers before he slowly reached for his sword. Harry shook his head sharply.

"Go!" he whispered. When Bilbo looked defiant Harry continued "I'll deal with them!" Bilbo looked hesitant before nodding, turning around and sprinting forward as quickly and silently as he could. Harry turned around only once he was sure Bilbo was out of harms way.

The sight that met him was less than encouraging.

Scratch that.

He was most likely screwed.

Warg. Orcs. Spiders. All three seemed to have brought at least a dozen of their ranks. They were staring at him in something which looked like surprise. This look quickly turned to glee. They had found an easy victim. Well Harry would be damned if he was going to go down without a fight.

Drawing his wand he flung himself at the enemies. His wand was like a blur, flashing this way and that, shooting spells all the while. But there were two many of them.

Soon he was completely surrounded. He looked around helplessly as the remaining enemies advanced on him. A sudden shooting pain in his head caught his attention. A vision of Eru popped up before him.

_"You will know what to do"_

Harry looked up again but this time it seemed as if everything was in slow motion. He raised his head to the sky and shouted out something completely unknown even to himself. His hands glowed a bright blue before something cold and metallic materialised in his left hand. Looking down in wonder he realised he was holding a glowing sword.

The pattern of the handle was so intricate that it looked unlike any other work which had or will ever be done by craftsmen on Middle Earth. The blade was about his arms length maybe a bit shorter and was glowing a similar blue to the one his hand had glowed. But before he had any more time to marvel the marvellous weapon he had tucked away his wand and his body had, off it's own accord, sprung into action.

It was like a dance, should any one have been watching they would have unable to describe it.

Such was the magnificence of Harry's sword work.

Despite never holding a sword which didn't have the word Gryffindor on it he swung the thing like he was born to do it.

_Jump_. _Slash_. _Stab_. _Jump_. _Swing_. _Stab_. _Stab_.

This was the sort of pattern that mowed down countless Orcs, Wargs and Spider alike. When they realised that they were fighting a losing battle the enemies retreated.

Harry, having been in something of a trance throughout the entire battle, came back into himself. Looking around in wonder at the countless corpses his eyes drifted to the sword in his hands. Only to find that it was fading out of existence. But Harry could still somehow feel it's presence. As if it was just waiting to be called upon whenever needed.

"What the hell happened there?" he mumbled to himself. That was a phenomenon unlike any he had experienced before. Shaking his head he looked around again beyond the trees and into the darkness. Great. Now he couldn't remember from which way he came.

It was no use using the point me spell and trying to find the dwarves and Bilbo tonight….or was it this morning? Tiredness was creeping up on him and exhaustion was taking over. He walked a little way away from the devastation before making up a bed from leaves and drifting off into the land of dreams.

-Harry Potter and the Third Age-

The next….whatever, Harry's eyes snapped open. For a while he was content to gaze up into the tree canopies, what little he could see of them, before he reasoned that it was probably time to go and rescue the others.  
Or run into more enemies. Whichever one happened first.

"Point me Bilbo Baggins" he muttered sleepily whilst holding his wand out in front of him. Said wand spun around before finally deciding on a direction.

'What a surprise,' Harry thought sarcastically 'more freaking trees'

He walked for what could have been hours before coming across the first sight that hadn't been darkness in many a day. There was a bridge that crossed a murky lake, wood it was made of, or at least Harry thought it was wood. Though everything now reminded him vaguely of wood, what with trees being the majority of his company for the last few days.

Carefully he stepped onto the bridge, he had yet to visit King Thranduil on his home turf and he did not know what kind of protections the mighty elven king had on his abode. He waited for a second for an army of elves to come and arrest him, when none came he took his next step with more confidence. He could make out a gate on the other side of the short bridge which ran into a cave in the side of a hill. Of course this hill was also filled with trees.

God damn trees.

Once he was over the bridge he stopped to observe the gates. 10ft tall and made out of what looked like 2ft thick iron there was no way he could blast the gate down. Not that he had been planning to. He was just using it as a last resort. Plus he was tired and irritated and if it came to it he would have no problem using any force necessary to retrieve the dwarves and Bilbo and try again at finding a way out of Mirkwood.

But he wasn't that desperate yet so he had to find another way in. Just as he was about to resort to actually calling for someone to open the gates and let him in, there was the sound of marching. Harry had barely any time to jump back from the gates as the swung open and a patrol of about 15 elves marched out. Upon finding the sight of him, standing there in ripped clothing with a few cuts here and there which he had forgotten to heal, and hair which looked like it had the entire forest within it they could not draw their bows fast enough.

Harry, who had been expecting something like this, calmly put his hands behind his head and waited for the elves, who looked mildly surprised, to make the first move. The move they did make was to bind his hands behind his back whilst a blindfold was placed over his eyes. Harry grunted in protest. He did not much like not being able to see. Though he supposed that with all the time spent in the forest it wasn't much of a difference.

God damn freaking trees.

"I'm guessing I have the right to remain silent" he said sarcastically to the elves, one of whom gave him a sharp jab in the ribs before pushing him forward. Coughing and weezing from the jab he was lead through the passages, which were less deep underground than the goblins and filled with a much cleaner air, all the way to an elaborate oak door. The door opened to reveal a large marble hall. Not that Harry knew this yet as the blindfold was still firmly in place despite his protests that he probably couldn't see anything anyway so they should just take it off. Finally the blindfold was ripped off and Harry had a chance to look around. The marble was shining white with gold flicks here and there. Gold archways surrounded the edge of the room and torches lit the room as bright as Harry had ever seen. In fact it was so bright and the light so glaring that he had to shield his eyes to prevent himself becoming blind. Days in the forest had taken it's toll.

God damn freaking stupid trees.

He focused on the grand chair in the middle of the back wall where a particularly grand elf sat, scrutinising him with light green eyes. This was obviously King Thranduil as the elves that had been escorting him bowed. The king merely inclined his head towards them before turning his eyes back to Harry. Harry stared back unflinchingly, not willing to let himself be intimidated by the elf. Finally the elven king spoke.

"Who are you and why do you enter my domain?" he asked. His voice was quite yet it seemed to bounce off of the walls and echo in Harry's ears.

Harry was actually quite insulted that Thranduil hadn't recognised him from their, admittedly brief, meeting in Rivendell on one of his visits. Slowly he replied so as not to offend the king.

"My name is Harry Potter and I am looking for my friends" he said.

The only indication that the king recognised the name was the slight widening of his eyes. Another period of time was spent by the king analysing Harry more. Finally he replied.

"What would a wizard of your origins be doing in a place such as Mirkwood Forest Mr Potter?" he said. Here he paused, looking Harry up and down again briefly before continuing "And looking like you've fought off 50 enemies at once"

Harry let out a bitter chuckle before replying "To be honest I have no idea how I managed to get myself into such a situation, though I have always been something of a magnet for trouble," here he smiled "though I am glad you remember me your highness, this should make things easier"

Thranduil raised a thin eyebrow "What things might those be?" he inquired.

Harry sighed "I am in search of some dwarves, I have reason to believe that you have these dwarves, am I correct?"

"You are, we came across these dwarves just yesterday, I was all for letting them go but they refused to answer any of my questions as to what they are doing in my forest" Thranduil sniffed. Harry grimaced inwardly, he had a lot of respect for Thranduil but this was a shortcoming for all elves, they seemed to think themselves slightly above everyone else. Before he could muse any more on the flaws of the elves he was being addressed again by the king.

"Maybe I can get some answers for your doings from you Mr Potter?" Harry grimaced. He needed to answer this carefully.

"I assume you know that I am under strict orders not to reveal too much, but I can tell you some" he started. He would have to play this well and not reveal too much while trying to get Thranduil on his side.

"Let me start with how I got in this state," he said. Harry knew it didn't have anything to do with the dwarves' mission but it might get the elves on his side. Might being the key word.

And so Harry explained the circumstances that lead to the battle, altering the story a bit so that Bilbo was not mentioned. By the end Thranduil was staring at him with something slightly resembling gratitude.

"I believe we owe you our thanks Mr Potter, as good as our guards are, they may not have stood up to enemies of that number and calibre" he said. Harry nodded.

"It was my pleasure your highness, now onto the subject of the dwarves…" and so Harry went on to explain the situation and why they were in the area. His version of the story was that the dwarves had heard of some riches in caves on the other side of the forest and were keen to reach it first. Harry threw in the loss of Erebor to stir up some sympathy for the dwarves. Harry wasn't almost put into Slytherin for nothing. At the end of the tail Thranduil was deep in thought.

Eventually he spoke again "I must say I admire your story-telling ability Mr Potter and if you are unwilling to tell me the whole truth then I will respect your privacy, but only because you are here with Gandalf's blessing."

Harry gaped. Not just because his lie hadn't worked but because Thranduil was letting him and the dwarves go free without the truth. He bowed low to the king who gave him a small smile.

"Shall we go and retrieve your friends?" the king asked. Harry nodded his assent and they made their way down to the dungeons where the guards were sitting in their office fast asleep. Thranduil shook his head muttering something about 'drunk guards' and went for the keys whilst Harry stifled a snort.

"Mr Potter?" Thranduil said.

"Yes?" Harry replied.

"It would seem that your friends are already gone" he said simply. Harry's head snapped around. Indeed it was true, there was no keys and what was more there were several barrels missing which contained the wine which went down to the lake folk. Harry sighed.

"So it seems, you don't mind if I borrow a barrel do you?" he asked. Thranduil raised an eyebrow before sighing softly.

"If you must, though I do not envy you" he replied. Harry grimaced.

"I don't envy me either" he said before placing the barrel in the outward flowing stream which carried wine to the towns folk and hopping in.

If Ron could see him now…

AN: Hope you enjoyed that chapter, I was actually quite happy with this one compared to the last one, I'd just finished an English essay so I was in the writing mood. See you in the next chapter! BYE!


	14. Bolg, a Letter and Lake-Town

Chapter 13 - Bolg, a Letter and Lake-town

Harry got into his barrel cautiously. Looking round he saw that he was now quite alone. He was rather thankful for this as his exit from the dungeons of Thranduil's people would no doubt be very undignified. It wouldn't do to have the King of the Wood Elves to see the mighty Harry Potter flail his arms about wildly before almost capsizing his now rapidly moving barrel. Being only a bit taller than the dwarves, much to his consternation, he could only just see over the 5 and a half foot tall barrel.

The rapids of the river were strong, strong enough to give Harry a good bashing whenever he went down a sizeable slope. There would be bruising there in the morning.

Was it morning?

It was dark as far as Harry could see, though this really wasn't much of a change from the previous few hour….days….weeks, Harry still found the darkness disconcerting. Not that he found much time to ponder this as he was currently losing brain cells by the minute with the amount of times his head had been smashed against the rim of the barrel.

Head throbbing and temper raging, he finally saw some sunlight between the branches of the trees. He thanked whatever higher power that was looking over him. Just as he was beginning to think that this particular ordeal was coming to an end he heard shout to his left. He froze.

There, a couple hundred metres or so up the river on a sandy bank were the dwarves and Bilbo. But they weren't alone.

Orcs surrounded them on all sides. Pointing there weapons at the company and jeering at them. The Orc captain, though he looked like paintings Harry had seen of Azog the Defiler obviously wasn't Azog, could have been mistaken for him. He was tall, not as tall as Azog but taller than any of the orcs around him. He was patchy white with scars here and there. His eyes were pitch black with slits of white which run horizontally through them. He was monstrous, he was hideous, he was foul…..

And he'd also noticed Harry.

With a few expletives under his breath Harry prepared himself for a fight. Coming to a stop not 50 metres from the group he jumped out of the barrel. The entire group stared at him. Harry resisted the urge to fidget. Now was not the time to show weakness. The captain smiled cruelly at him.

"Well look what we have here eh?" he snarled. Harry stared defiantly up at him.

"Let them go now or I swear to god none of you will ever set foot off of this sand again" Harry growled, taking up a fighting stance. The orcs and their captain laughed at him.

"You don't seem to know who you're talking to boy!" the captain spat out. "I am Bolg, son of Azog the defiler, ruler of these lands. To defy me is to guarantee your doom!"

Harry smirked "You think I'm afraid of you and your merry group of abominations?" Inside his mind he was calculating the best way to take out as many orcs as possible. His eyes were drawn to the company. They all looked worse for wear, thought that may have been due to the barrel ride. The orcs hadn't harmed them, but why?

"You've been waiting for me" he stated to Bolg who had been cursing at him in his own foul language.

Bolg smirked "I wanted the set, 13 dwarves, a hobbit and a man" Harry's almost sighed in relief at finding out that Bolg did not know he was a wizard. He still had the element of surprise.

"Well," he said casually as Bolg still smirked at him "now you've got a wizard as well. _Decollandum_!" he shouted, slashing his wand from left to right. He didn't know where the spell had come from but it had been instinctive like it had been in the forest.

A wide, flat beam of jet black shot out of his wand towards the surprised orc captain. Bolg had just enough time to move a foot to the right. This saved him where his neck would have been now was his shoulder. The spell cut clean through the bone and severed the arm from the body. The next few minutes were chaotic as the orcs took one look at their fallen and bleeding captain before letting out angry shouts and screams.

Harry had not stopped to observe his work as he maybe would have done in the past and had immediately descended upon the orcs. His wand replaced by the magnificent sword he cut through the ranks like a hot knife through butter. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the company fighting along with him. He was so busy that he didn't notice two orcs dragging their leader back through the trees. Beheading the last orc he turned to the company. All of them were relatively unhurt but they were all bruised from the barrels and panting from the fight.

Harry smiled at the group. "Well, this isn't exactly how I wanted us to meet up again but I suppose I can't be too demanding"

Thorin stepped up, he seemed to be having an internal battle with himself. He settled with nodding his head with respect. Harry smiled and nodded back. Maybe they could get along after all.

"Now I don't know about you guys but I don't really fancy having to get back into those barrels. I think we'll have to walk from here" he said. The company groaned.

"But we haven't eaten in days, I for one can barely stand especially after that fight" Bombur boomed. Harry looked at him incredulously.

"You can barely stand anyway" he said and walked past the laughing company and grumbling Bombur. Even Thorin had a slight smile on his face.

They walked through the remaining forest until they came to the mouth of a gigantic lake. Harry stopped. On the far side of the lake he could just about make out a town.

"We shall make for the town across the lake," he said with finality. When the dwarves and hobbit were about to protest he continued "but first we shall rest here for the night." This development brought relieved sighs from tired mouths. Balin seemed to realise something.

"Do we have any food?" he said. The company, excluding Harry who watched with amusement, rushed for the packs, only to find that they were not there.

"Well, you have spent a while in Elven dungeons" Harry stated. "I could have gotten you a magnificent feast with the elves before we left but no, you decided that escaping in barrels down a river was the best course of action"

"What do you mean you could have gotten us a feast?" Thorin asked suspiciously. Harry thought it best not to open hostilities this early into their new agreement.

"Never mind, I can provide food for the night, granted it won't be as filling as real food but it should quench your hunger anyway" he said. Getting up he gathered a great pile of pebbles as the company watched with confusion. That confusion turned to astonishment when he started transfiguring them into all manner of food. Gloin spoke up.

"Why in the bloody hell did you not do that when we were in that godforsaken forest?" he said with a frown. Harry thought about the question. Why hadn't he done that?

With a guilty smile over to them he said "I guess the forest affected more than just my temper." Groans met this statement and Harry forced himself not to feel guilty. He didn't have to come with them after all.

After the small feast was finished and the company fed they all went to sleep. All except Harry of course who was keeping watch. As much as he would liked to have slept there was always the possibility of an attack. Looking over the darkening lake he saw something that took his breath away.

How he had, nor the dwarves, had not seen it before was beyond him. Perhaps they were too dead on their feet to think much. Harry stared in awe at the monstrous mountain which stood in the distance. It was but 100 miles at the most and even from that distance Harry could see how enormous it was. But something about it seemed off, wrong even. There was a dark, malevolent aura which seemed to hang around the place.

It was Erebor. The Lonely Mountain. In all it's glory. Harry had only heard about it in tales told late at night by the company. He had not travelled this far east in his travels. The furthest he had gone was the home of the Wood Elves where they had just come from. Now he was glad that he had not ventured here. It all just screamed dragon.

He stopped. Was that a rustling he heard? Slowly turning around he braced himself for the worst. The worst never came and he stared as what could only have been an elf walked into the camp. Harry stood up slowly. The elf bowed slightly to him. Harry did the same back.

"What news do you bring?" Harry asked cautiously. He thought he saw the elf look uncomfortable for a second before regaining his composure.

"We received a letter from Imladris, it is addressed to you" he said. Harry's eyes widened. Was Dee writing to him? Harry had told her specifically not long before he left not to write to him. He didn't want to bring her into anything this dangerous.

He took the letter and began to open it before the elf spoke up again "We were given specific orders that we tell you not to open it until you have completed your quest."

Harry blinked. Why would Dee not want him to open it? Unless it wasn't from Dee. He looked down at the elegant handwriting which said:

_Harry Potter_

No that was definitely Dee's handwriting. He looked back to the elf to ask another question only to find him gone. He blinked again. Looking back down at the envelope he couldn't help but want to open it now. However he would respect Dee's wishes for now. Putting the envelope in his pocket he went back to his watch.

The next morning he was awoken to the sound of grumbling. Opening his eyes he looked around. Everyone was just waking up it seemed. Getting to his feet and cursing himself for falling asleep on the job he moved to get breakfast. And breakfast means pebbles.

After breakfast the company was about to get moving again when Harry had an idea. It was such a blindingly obvious solution to the distance problem that he wanted to slam his head into the ground in frustration. But he didn't do that. He needed all the brain cells he had. Instead he pointed his wand at the gigantic lake in front of him and swished it in a cross shape. Before the companies' very eyes appeared a boat. The boat was long and wide and could easily fit everyone, including Bombur who was a little way away with a bit of sausage frozen on the way to his mouth and staring wide eyed at the boat. Harry smiled, conjuration had been one of the more difficult aspects of magic that he had learnt during his time at Hogwarts and in his private studies but it was well worth it.

"Well come on then we don't have all day" Harry said after he climbed into the boat and the rest just stood staring. First Bilbo snapped out of it and climbed in, this snapped the others out of their stupor and they too climbed in. And off they went. Harry had enchanted the ores to row on their own. So maybe he was showing off, he thought he'd earned the right. He smiled to himself, watching the dwarves faces as they stared at the ores in awe. Harry had always been very reserved about using magic in front of them for fear of frightening them. But after the fight with Bolg and his orcs he no longer thought that it mattered.

Eventually after a long day of boat travel they docked in the harbour of the town. Harry had heard about this place. It was a little town called Lake-Town, a town of Men. And, being in the shadow of the Lonely Mountain, it prospered as much as Dale did during the height of the dwarves' wealth. Ever since Smaug decimated Dale and took Erebor for himself they had had to get by from what they could catch and sell in the lake. In this respect they were lucky to be quite far away from Erebor or they would have also been subject of Smaug's wrath.

Harry had not by any means expected an instant warm welcome. But he hadn't expected to have a sword in his face the moment he stepped onto the docks. Wide-eyed he stared at the owner of the sword, a tall guard in a soldier type uniform. It seemed there were a group of guards who each had their own part of the company with a sword pointing at them.

"What business do you have here?" the guard who had his sword at Harry's neck said.

Thorin stepped up "I am Thorin, son of Thrain, son of Thror, King Under the Mountain and we are on our way to claim back our birthright, we wish to see the Master of your town" he said haughtily. Harry sighed. So much for the secrecy of the quest.

It seemed to have worked though as the guards immediately brought down their swords and were staring wide-eyed at Thorin who now stood with his chest puffed out and nose in the air. Harry had to suppress a snort.

"O-of course, right this way" the lead guard said nervously, glancing round to see if anyone was watching. It seemed his hopes for a conspicuous exit from this situation were shattered as there was now a lot of people looking curiously at the new arrivals to their town.

"The master of the town is at the feast at the moment" the captain, for that is who he was, said after speaking to another for a moment.

"All the better, take us to him" Thorin replied. The guard grudgingly obliged and the group, with Harry and Bilbo at the rear, walked on. Now that Harry was in Lake-town he saw that none of it was even on the shore, all of it floating on the surface of the long wide lake. A great wooden bridge shot right across the distance from the lake to the shore. Eventually the company and the guards reached the feast and then Thorin did something so typically Thorin that Harry wanted to laugh again.

He stepped into the light of the clearing and exclaimed "I am Thorin, son of Thrain, son of Thror, King Under the Moutain! I return!"

Everyone who had previously been sitting and enjoying an enormous feast jumped up, surprised. None more surprised than the elves who just happened to be attending this feast.

One of them ran up angrily to the group and exclaimed "These are prisoners of our king that have escaped, wandering vagabond dwarves that could not give any good account of themselves, sneaking through the woods and molesting our people!"

Harry blinked. Then blinked again. Surely this elf was going a bit far. Sure they had interrupted a few parties along their way but you could hardly call that molesting them. He stared in surprise as Thorin began to go red in the face. Always warning signs there.

"Is this true?" said a man at the end of the long table. This man had a full beard and what resembled a toga on. This must be the Master of Lake-Town.

"It is true that we were wrongfully waylaid by the Elven-King and imprisoned without cause as we journeyed back to our own land," ground out Thorin. "But lock nor bar may hinder the homecoming spoken of old. Nor is this the Wood-elves' realm. I speak to the Master of the town of the Men of the Lake, not to the raft-men of the King."

The Master looked between the two groups in deep thought. Meanwhile the news that the King Under the Mountain had returned was spreading throughout the town and to Harry's astonishment people were starting to sing.

_The King beneath the mountains,_  
_The King of carven stone,_  
_The land of silver fountains_  
_Shall come into his own!_

_His crown shall be upholden,_  
_His harp shall be restrung,_  
_His halls shall echo golden_  
_To songs of yore re-sung_

_The woods shall wave on mountains_  
_And grass beneath the sun;_  
_His wealth shall flow in fountains_  
_And rivers golden run._

_The streams shall run in gladness_  
_The lakes shall shine and burn,_  
_All sorrow fail and sadness_  
_At the Mountain-king's return!_

The song was quite catchy Harry had to admit as he tapped his foot absentmindedly. The general excitement of the masses seemed to be the thing which swayed the Master's opinion as he offered Thorin his chair in the place of honour. Fili and Kili, as Thorin's cousins, either side of him. Even Bilbo was given his own spot at the top of the table. When the Master looked at Harry his eyes narrowed.

'Oh great' Harry thought bitterly.

"You are not a dwarf" he stated bluntly. Harry resisted the urge to go 'Well done' instead nodding his head.

"Who are you?" he asked. Harry smiled a rather forced smile and extended his hand. He didn't like this man already.

"Harry Potter" he replied. The mans eyes widened before he put a 'jolly' smile on his face and gestured towards the rest of the company.

"Such a great wizard as yourself will surely join us for a feast" he said jovially. Harry nodded and went to sit by Bilbo.

Hours later after all the food they could eat, all the beer they (the dwarves) could drink and all the singing they could do the dwarves, Harry and Bilbo made their way to the special inn which had been completely vacated so they could have it to themselves. Harry fell down onto his bed with a sigh. This was better than he had slept on in weeks.

With that thought he drifted off into a restful sleep. Though a little niggle of doubt started to grow in his mind. He pushed it down and ignored it but it still kept coming back.

Things were about to get darker. Harry could feel it.

AN: HEY! I'm still here, and guess what…..EXAMS ARE OVER! YES! Sorry I haven't updated in forever but exams had to come first I'm afraid. Therefore I have written you quite a long chapter and I hope you enjoyed it. See you soon hopefully now that I have more time on my hands what with no school until September :D BYE


	15. This is worrying

Chapter 14 - This is worrying

The next 14 mornings dawned bright. The sun was a welcome sight when it was peaking over the snow-capped tip of the Lonely Mountain and bathing Lake-town and the surrounding areas in glorious light. For Harry, on the first night of their stay, it was the first time he had rested peacefully in weeks. As a result of this, and many more good nights sleep after that, he was in a very good mood most of the time. The whole quest looked more optimistic now that dwarf, hobbit and wizard alike were in such high spirits.

Harry was under no illusion that this happiness would last but he was determined to make it count. So far the lake people had made the company feel very welcome. Whether this was their good hospitality in general or that they believed they would be getting something back from the dwarves in the end was irrelevant. Harry hoped Thorin would reward them when, and at that moment it certainly looked like a when and not an if, the quest was successful and Erebor was reclaimed by the grandson of the former King under the Mountain. But there was still a niggling doubt in the back of his mind. Especially during the times in which he caught Thorin gazing longingly up at the mountain.

It was on one of these occasions that Harry decided a talk was needed. Thorin was standing on the balcony of the inn which the company had been staying in. The others were off meeting the locals and collecting supplies for the remainder of the trip. Harry saw this a good a time as any and so he approached the young prince.

"What could possibly be the matter Thorin? The day is bright as any we have seen in weeks and the company are the happiest I have seen them since before setting off. And yet you stand here wearing a face appropriate to someone who has recently attended a loved one's funeral" Harry said. Thorin turned to stare at the wizard. Finally he sighed and once again took to staring at the mountain.

Harry was ready to give up his attempts and leave Thorin to his thoughts when the dwarf spoke.

"How can I be happy when my home looks more like an evil sorcerer's fortress than the once majestic home of my ancestors?" he said. Harry frowned. So Thorin had noticed it too.

"And here I thought I was the only one to notice" Harry replied, coming to stand beside Thorin.

They stood in silence for a while before Harry asked "What are you going to do once you have reclaimed your home?"

Thorin smiled faintly "I shall rebuild my people to be as great, if not greater than my Grandfather made them years ago"

Harry, though, frowned "And what of the city of Dale, the people of this town who have given us such a pleasant stay?"

"Yes, yes they will also profit from our victory" Thorin replied vaguely. "Though I do believe you are right, I should be enjoying our remaining time here before we set off again"

Harry reluctantly followed Thorin down to the streets of Lake-town where everyone was all too happy to serve the future 'King under the Mountain'. He wondered whether Thorin would keep his word on the matter of the Lake-town folk. Somehow he doubted it. But that was a matter to be dealt with later. Walking along the wooden streets of the town Harry couldn't help but sneak glances up at the mountain. His instincts screamed at him to turn around and stay as far away from the place as possible. But his honour and the promise he'd made to the dwarves and Gandalf prevented him from doing just that. It wasn't that he was scared of the mountain, very few things scared him these days, it was the fact that the whole place felt wrong. His thoughts that the dragon Smaug was anything like the Hungarian Horntail he had faced all those years ago had been thrown for a loop the moment he saw the mountain. This, to say the least, unnerved him. With the Horntail he could outwit it. Smaug was clever, and that made him dangerous.

Turning his gaze back to his surroundings he sought out the rest of the company. Seeing Fili and Kili over by a merchants stall he and Thorin made their way over.

"Are we ready to set off?" Thorin asked.

"We will be, once we find some ponies to carry our supplies" Kili replied. Thorin's reply was lost to Harry as he spun around, quick as lightning, just in time to catch an arrow which had been zooming towards the back of his head but was now less than an inch away from his nose.

He blinked. Then blinked again.

Thorin, Kili and Fili had obviously noticed his sudden movement and were gaping at the arrow in Harry's hand. In this time Harry had composed himself and tore off in the direction the arrow had come from. The three dwarves, after a moments pause, sprinted off after him.

Harry could think of nothing else other than apprehending the would be assassin. Seeing a blur in the direction the arrow had come from Harry doubled his pace. The town was streaming past him in flash of colours. Raising his wand he directed it at the fleeing man. No words were necessary as the familiar red light of the stunning spell flew from his wand and hit it's target squarely in the back. The form crumpled. Harry had only used a non-lethal spell because he needed to find out who this guy was working for.

Reaching the form on the ground he removed the man's hood. Under the hood was a tanned man with short dark brown hair. Harry did not recognise the man. This concerned him, the last thing he needed was more enemies. Aware that the two of them were being stared at by the majority of the Lake-town population Harry ennervated the man. He wanted answers.

The man's eyelids flickered before snapping open. Looking frantically around his brown eyes widened as he looked up at Harry.

"L-let me go, what do you want with me?!" he shouted. Harry, in response, punched him in the nose. Blood started to flow.

"_Episkey_" Harry said. The blood stopped flowing but the pain would still be there.

"What I want to know is why you would try to murder me" Harry replied calmly but forcefully. His expression betrayed little of the anger he was feeling. Somewhere, deep down, he knew that this anger was unlike him in a moment such as this but he declined to think about that now.

The man looked incredibly nervous as he replied "Murder you? I..I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about"

Harry glared at the man and, in the absence of Veritaserum, did something which he would have preferred never to do again.

"_Legillimens_" he said, staring the man straight in the eyes. He had only done this on a few occasions in the past. And though he found it relatively easy and was quite skilled at it, his experiences with the spell in the past had been less than happy. A certain greasy haired professor came to mind.

What greeted Harry in the man's mind was, for lack of a better phrase, confusing. He was in what looked like the thickest fog in the history of man. Looking around he didn't see the punch coming until it smacked him right in the face.

Being forcefully thrown out of someone's mind like this has the adverse effect of sending the real you flying twenty feet through the air. Therefore it was a very dazed Harry that lay on the wooden streets looking up at the sky, a dull throb in his head. Looking groggily over to the still unknown man he saw him sprinting away through the crowd. Trying to get up Harry found that he had to use the nearest person, which happened to be Thorin, to keep his balance. There was no way he was going to catch the man in this state.

"What the hell was that?" Fili asked. Harry clutched his head at the loud noise.

"It looks like I have made some new enemies" Harry replied. The three turned to look at him. But Harry was stumbling off in a different direction. All he could think was to get out of Lake-town as quickly as possible. This was exactly what he didn't need at the moment. That was an assassin, Harry had no doubt about that. But that wasn't what was bothering him. He could not see into the man's mind. No muggle could have that level of Occlumency to have been able to throw him out. That was the work of a wizard. But Harry knew of no other wizard in Middle Earth who could perform such magic. Had Sauron learnt some new tricks? Saruman maybe? No, Saruman was still on their side, despite his questionable loyalty. Whoever it was, they seemed to have it in for Harry.

They found the rest of the company on the outskirts of Lake-town. They just seemed to be waiting around for them.

"Where are the ponies?" Balin asked. Harry flicked his wand in their direction, still thoroughly disorientated, and the luggage shrank down to a good size. Thorin just raised an eyebrow at him.

"It looks like we shall have no need for ponies on this leg" he said to the company.

"Harry? What's wrong?" Bilbo asked Harry, who was still clutching his head.

"Later" he replied. Bilbo reluctantly nodded. It was at that time the Master of Lake-town showed up to bid the group farewell. He frowned when he noticed Harry's apparent pain.

"Are you ok Mr Potter?" he said. Harry straightened up, it would not do to be looking weak in front of the Master of Lake-town.

"I am perfectly well, thank you for your concern" he replied. The pain was abating for now.

"I have caught wind that you had a scuffle with a man earlier, is this true?" he asked. Harry grit his teeth, he really didn't need questioning right now, what he needed was to leave.

"It is true" he replied. The Master frowned.

"Why are you starting fights with my people?" he said a bit angrily. Harry snapped.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe it was because he tried to shoot an arrow into the back of my head" he said. The Master looked shocked before replying.

"I did not have that information Mr Potter, please forgive my assuming" he said. Harry's anger drained away and he sighed.

"Forgiven, can we leave now?" he said to Thorin. The dwarf in question stared back at him before answering.

"Of course, we beg your leave, Master of Lake-town and we thank you for your gracious hospitality during our stay" he bowed slightly. The Master bowed back.

"You are very welcome Thorin Oakenshield, and may your quest succeed and bring you, and I, riches beyond compare" he said. Harry thought he saw a slight frown on Thorin's face before the dwarf shook the Master's hand and turned to lead the group away. Harry nodded to the man who nodded respectfully back.

After a fortnight in the town Harry was glad to get away. Despite his previously high spirits he couldn't help but feel they had lingered in one place for too long. Word was sure to have gotten out that they were there and what they were planning to do. Maybe the man that would have been his murderer had he not had such astonishingly good reflexes was working for people who wanted the gold that lay in Erebor for themselves. And they happened to see him as a problem. Maybe he worked for Bolg who had sent him to assassinate the one who had cut off his arm. Harry did not like not knowing. It was his school years all over again, since arriving in Middle Earth he had had a pretty good idea of what was going on, even in far off lands. But now he did not know, and that worried him.

The company set off North up the long lake in the boat which Harry had conjured previously. Eventually, after two days, they came out into the River Running, the oars rowing obediently at their sides. The company in general were staring up at the towering mountain which now loomed over them, tall and grim. Their going was slow as the stream was flowing strongly back towards Lake-town. At the end of the third day they pull into the western bank of the river and disembarked. There it was that they spent a long night which, thanks to Harry, was a lot warmer than it would have been.

The next morning the company set off North-west towards a great spur in the mountain which flung out southwards towards them. It was a stealthy journey, one which Harry did not enjoy at all. There were no songs sang, no jokes told and no laughter shared. It was like being back in the forest again but with more light. The land around them was becoming more and more barren the further they walked. So much so that eventually there was nothing more than burnt tree stumps and the smell of ash and decay in the air. Harry hated it. The sheer destruction of the land around him was worse than he could have ever imagined. Nothing would grow here whilst the dragon still lived.

It wasn't until they reached a large valley that Harry understood Thorin and the dwarves' great desire for vengeance. There in the bottom of the valley with a large river running through it was the ruins of a once thriving city. There was virtually nothing left. Watch towers that once stood proud were crumbling, houses that once housed innocent people were nothing more than piles of ash, even the river showed the extent of the devastation for it was pitch black. Harry stared at the sight before him for what felt like an age. Revulsion bubbled up in his throat and he vowed to see the end of the one to cause this much death.

"There lies all that is left of Dale," Balin said as the group surveyed the scene before their eyes with horror "The mountain's sides were green with woods and all the sheltered valley rich and pleasant in the days when the bells rang in that town." Harry tried to imagine such a sight but with the ruins before him it was almost impossible.

Luckily the group did not need to go any closer to what once was Dale for they were now only a mile or two from the Front Gate of Erebor. Spirits were low as the group knew that this would be the end of their journey and that the end may not be a pretty one.

Thorin sent Balin, Fili and Kili to scout out the Front Gate for any sign of the dragon. Harry suggested that he and Bilbo tag along, for if there was any danger it was good to have a wizard on your side, and it would also give Bilbo a chance to scout out the area. Thorin seemed to like this idea and so the group set off. The real reason Harry wanted to take Bilbo was because he did not trust these hills and wanted to keep the little hobbit close at all times. They marched under grey and silent cliffs to the feet of Ravenhill, past the ruins of Dale until they had the Front gate in their sights. They did not dare follow the river past Dale towards the gate very far. They lay beneath a large rock looking for any sign of trouble in the deep cavernous opening that was the Front gate. But nothing moved, save for the occasional crow and the vapour of the Running River. Harry involuntarily shivered whilst the others did the same.

"Let us return!" Balin said finally. "We can do no good here! And I don't like these dark birds, they look like birds of evil."

They all agreed and with one last look at the entrance they headed back to Thorin and the rest of the company.

"The dragon is still alive, under the halls of the mountain," said Bilbo quietly "or I should imagine so from the smoke"

Harry nodded "I do not doubt that Smaug is still very much alive, of course we have no proof yet but we must assume that that is the case."

Eventually they made it back to the others and told them of their findings, or rather, lack of. Thorin seemed resigned to the fact that the dragon still lived, but this only seemed to make him more determined to see the quest done. Harry shared this sentiment. It was with heavy hearts and weary legs that the company set off again, this time towards the western gate on which rested all of their hopes.

Harry and Bilbo pulled up the rear of the group again. Harry hadn't had a decent talk with Bilbo since they were back in the forest. Fighting orcs and attending feasts where everyone is trying to talk to you would be the reason for that.

"How are you holding up?" Harry asked Bilbo quietly. The hobbit looked at him before sighing.

"To be honest I hope never to feel this gloomy again" he replied. Harry sympathised with him, he hadn't felt this depressed since the Horcrux hunt in his seventh year. That reminded him of something else he was going to ask.

"What are you going to do about the ring?"

Bilbo froze. "I-I don't know, I want to keep it because, well it's been very useful so far. I would no doubt have been eaten by spiders had I not possessed it, same for all of you" he said. Harry looked at him carefully.

"Very well, but I warn you not to get too attached to it, it is useful yes but I sense it is also very dark" he warned. Bilbo nodded.

"Why don't we talk of happier things, eh? Like what you're going to do with your share of the treasure?" Harry said, sounding happier than he felt. His false joy was rewarded with a small smile from Bilbo.

Bilbo actually seemed to be continually asking for the map after a short chat with Harry. It seemed there was still some spirit left in the little hobbit. It was this perusing of the map by Bilbo which led them to taking on the dangerous search of the western slopes. They made camp in a small valley at the feet of the western slopes and began their ascent. Days it took to find a suitable way up the slopes. Eventually it was Bilbo who found steps behind a large stone which stood like a pillar going up onto a thin ledge. Walking up he, and Fili and Kili who had been with him, had reached the thin ledge which turned North across the face of the mountain. In single file they had walked across the ledge. They had finally reached the end of the ledge and had come out into a little steep-walled bay. Unlike the rest of the surrounding areas this bay had been grassy-floored and quiet. When Harry had looked for the place in question whilst Bilbo had been telling the tale he found he could not see it because of the overhang of the cliff. The reason the hobbit was so sure that this was where the door would be was the fact that the rock on the side of the cliff was so smooth it must have been carved. For the first time in days excitement coursed through the group and spirit levels were lifted again.

The next day it was decided that they would pack up and head towards the door. Thanks to Harry's magic they need not worry about ponies or supplies as the supplies which they had brought from Lake-town were easily shrunken and carried. Reaching the ledge in question Harry heard a loud groan from behind him. Harry had to smother a grin when he saw Bombur looking at the ledge. It would almost be impossible for Bombur to fit on the ledge as he was simply too large. Harry's grin finally came out when he flicked his wand, levitating Bombur five feet in the air. A surprised yelp and much cursing followed as Harry and his other laughing companions followed the floating Bombur over the ledge. It was lucky that the dwarves who hadn't been here before had a distraction as they then had no chance to observe the one hundred and fifty foot drop below them.

When the group got to the other side of the ledge they turned into the bay. There it was, just as Bilbo had said. The stone on the cliff-side was smooth, too smooth to be natural. There were a few cheers as the company realised Bilbo had been correct and this was indeed where the door was. Even Bombur, who was sat on the ground silently shaking from his brief flight, gave a slight cheer.

It was there they set up camp again. Some went to scout the ledges beyond and found a path leading further up the mountain. Harry decided that it would be pointless to search up there as everything they needed was right here. The others seemed to share this idea so no one ventured any further up. Harry and a few others worked religiously on the door, they were having no luck. Harry eventually sat down and thought about it. If the map could only be read by moonlight then it would stand to reason that the door could only be seen by sunlight. Moonlight to symbolise all the sleepless nights they would spend on the quest, sunlight to signify the finding of the door. At least that was the way his mind saw it.

So every morning he sat and waited as the sun rose and set, staring at the smooth wall. But day after day he was left disappointed. The dwarves, who Harry had not told of his plan in case he was wrong, loitered around. They were getting more and more impatient every day. Until one day Thorin said:

"Tomorrow begins the last week of autumn"

"And winter comes after autumn" said Bifur.

"And next year after that," said Dwalin "and our beards will grow until they hang down the cliff of the valley before anything happens here. What of our burglar and the wizard, we know the wizard can do many things, I don't doubt he could make himself invisible if he wanted. Why don't we send him in through the front gate to scout it out?"

Harry had to grit his teeth to prevent the scathing reply he longed to utter. They thought that if he could do something he wouldn't already be doing it. Were they so impatient that they were willing to send him to his death to get it done quicker?

Needless to say it was a very angry Harry who tossed and turned in his sleep that night. The problem of the man back in Lake-town was still bothering him. But he put that aside for the moment to focus on the problem at hand. Tomorrow was the start of the last week of autumn. Harry doubted they could survive the winter with the conditions, even with his warming charms the temperature got into minus figures at night even in the autumn and the company were still cold, it would be even worse in the winter.

The next day the dwarves went off in all directions whilst Harry and Bilbo sat staring away to the west, over the forest of Mirkwood Harry thought he could see the peaks of the Misty Mountains. When the sun was setting and the moon rising Harry head a sharp CRACK behind him. He and Bilbo whipped around quickly. There, with a snail in it's beak, was an enormous thrush with nearly coal black feathers and a pale yellow breast speckled with dark spots. It was banging the snail on the cliff-face. CRACK! CRACK!

Something Elrond said flashed into Harry's mind, after all this time he had almost forgotten:

"_Stand by the grey stone when the thrush knocks, and the setting sun with the last light of Durin's day will shine upon the keyhole_."

With hardly a moment to ponder this he turned to Bilbo only to see him already hailing the dwarves off the side of the cliff. Barely a minute or so later all the dwarves were rushing into camp.

"What is it?" Thorin asked when he had arrived.

"Today is Durin's day is it not?" Harry said. Thorin's eyes widened.

"Yes it is," he said "Of course! 'The last light of Durin's day will shine upon the keyhole' And there is the thrush! This is it!"

The company gathered excitedly round the door, staring at it. Harry turned towards the sun which was halfway to setting. They waited until the sun was almost gone and the moon was almost up. Spirits which had skyrocketed with the new breakthrough were slowly decreasing. They were all ready to give up, except for Harry and Bilbo who were still staring at the cliff-face expectantly. Finally when the sun was almost set a thin beam of light found its way through the clouds and shone upon the cliff-face.

For a moment nothing happened before a crack slowly started to appear in the wall. It appeared to be in the shape of a keyhole.

"Thorin! Thorin!" Bilbo cried. "Quick, your key! The key that came with the map!"

But Thorin was already there, with the key in his hand he pushed it carefully into the hole. Turning it there was a loud crack and the keyhole disappeared. The group pushed the rock where the keyhole had been and slowly the rock started to give way. Until finally a great gaping hole was left in the side of the mountain.

Harry smiled as the rest of the company celebrated. But he also felt a bit of fear. Staring into the dark abyss he wondered what dangers they would find at the end of it.

There was only one way to find out.

AN: Hey guys! Very long chapter for you today, thank you for all your positive reviews for the last chapter and I hope you enjoy this one as well! BYE!


	16. Smaug

Chapter 15 - Smaug

Harry sat silently as the company around him debated as to who would go in through the hole first. Harry had a bad feeling when he saw a couple of them sneak glances at Bilbo who was sitting next to him, also in silent contemplation. They couldn't seriously expect the hobbit to enter Smaug's quarters alone could they. Never mind that he was supposed to be a burglar, should the dragon awake and catch the scent of Bilbo then the hobbit would be dead before you could say 'Run!'

A resigned feeling settled over Harry. He had made a silent vow somewhere along the journey without even realising it to protect Bilbo. Of course he didn't doubt that he could take care of himself but in a fight with an opponent like Smaug, lets face it he had no chance. Harry at least would be able to deflect the dragon's blows, he had not had the chance to truly test his powers yet on this journey. Orcs, spiders and Wargs were easy enough to deal with, but a dragon like Smaug would provide a real test. Eru had said he had a destiny to fulfil, but he didn't know what that destiny was. All he could think that it could be would be bringing about the end of Smaug and helping the dwarves reclaim Erebor. Until he had a better idea this would be his goal.

After a while of contemplation it seemed the dwarves had finally come to a conclusion. Thorin, as Harry had feared he would do, turned to the hobbit. He looked business-like, like this was a particularly good deal which was going to be completed.

"Now is time for our esteemed Mr Baggins, who has proved himself a good companion on our long road, and a hobbit full of courage and resource far exceeding his size, and if I may say so possessed of good luck far exceeding the usual allowance - now is the time for him to perform the service for which he was included in our Company; now is the time for him to earn his Reward" he said confidently.

Bilbo looked towards the prince angrily. Harry sighed, he knew Bilbo had every right to be angry, but it wasn't helping anyone here.

"If you mean you think it is my job to go into that dark abyss then may your beards grow ever longer," he said crossly, "you have not even considered asking me, you just expect it. What if I refuse? Eh? Then what? Which one of you has the courage to walking down that tunnel, eh? My guess would be very few, I have already saved you from two sticky situations and I believe I have earned my share." here his angry look changed to one of someone resigned to his fate, "However as my father used to say 'third time pays all' and somehow I doubt that refusing to go in will get us anywhere. Where my common sense has got to I do not quite know, or maybe it is that I trust my luck more than I used to. Will anyone be coming with me into the unknown?" he said challengingly to the group. Harry blinked, the hobbit had just done a complete 180 turn in one speech. He looked around to see the rest of the dwarves looking shifty. He spoke up.

"I shall accompany you Bilbo Baggins" he said. Bilbo looked at him in shock, apparently he hadn't been expecting anyone to sign up. Balin then stepped in.

"I do not pretend to want to accompany you all the way down but I will come with you a short way, to shout back if you need help" he said. Bilbo nodded gratefully to him, as did Harry.

And so it was decided that Balin would accompany them down into the path until you could only just see the door, that was as far as he would go. When they had received all of their 'good luck's from the dwarves they descended into the hole. It was not like the goblin's passages that were roughly cut and jagged, nor was it like the wood elves' passages that were smooth but twisted more times than you could count. This was built by the dwarves at the height of their success, straight as an arrow and never differing in its steepness. The three descended until the light which shone through the door could scarcely be seen, this is where the three parted.

"Well, this is where I leave you, good luck" Balin said. Bilbo and Harry nodded. Bilbo put on his ring whilst Harry took his cloak and threw it over himself. Barely breathing the two carried on their descent. Lower and lower they sank, and hotter and hotter it became. Harry was sweating profusely and with every step the air got dustier until Harry had to cough, quickly placing a silencing spell on him and Bilbo beside him he took a great hacking cough. Harry also heard the unmistakable gurgling of an enormous animal snoring. Eventually they saw a light at the end of the tunnel (literally).

What Harry saw when they exited the tunnel made him stop in his tracks. The first thing his eyes noticed as he got used to the light was the gold. Gold everywhere, gems, pearls, precious items. Everywhere he looked there were piles upon piles of them. Harry had, of course, heard the legends of the vast dwarfish wealth in Erebor, but what he saw now was beyond all of his expectations. He felt the draw of it, he felt the dwarves desire to reclaim this wealth and to have it for himself.

Of course, the next thing he saw brought him crashing down to Earth.

Hard.

There, barely 100 feet from where the two where standing, was Smaug. He was, to put it simply, gigantic. He must have been at least five times the size of the Horntail. His red and gold scales glinted in the light of the treasure underneath and all around him. Every time he breathed out a short spout of flames would erupt. Harry thought he saw something glint even brighter on the underside of him but just when he was coming back to his senses after his momentary stupor he turned to look towards where he hoped Bilbo was. His eyes widened, one of the big golden cups appeared to be floating out of the hall.

'_No!_' he thought before rushing after what was undoubtedly Bilbo and the floating cup. From what he had learnt about dragons, they knew their gold down to the last ounce, especially those who had spent a long time with it. Smaug would definitely know that the cup was missing. Running along silently, thanks to his charm, he reached the cup and grabbed what he knew was Bilbo. He cancelled his silencing charm and threw off his cloak, they were a good 500 or so metres into the tunnel so it would be alright to talk very quietly. Bilbo took off his ring.

"What?" he whispered after his silencing charm was off. Harry stared at him.

"Bilbo dragons know their gold down to the last ounce, if you steal anything then they would-" he was cut off when he heard a snort from back down the tunnel. He froze.

"Bollocks, run!" he whispered urgently, grabbing Bilbo and sprinting up the tunnel. The cup was still grasped firmly in Bilbo's hand.

They eventually reached Balin who, luckily, didn't ask too many questions and joined them in running. When they reached the company outside the dwarves rejoiced, noticing the cup in Bilbo's hands. They did not seem to notice the panic on Harry's face.

"Very well done Mr Baggins, I would say you have more than earned your share" Thorin said, staring at the cup in his hands reverently. Bilbo smiled at this.

"Guys," Harry said after getting his voice back, "we may have a bit of a problem"

The dwarves were about to ask what it was when a tremendous roar sounded from behind them. They could feel the heat coming from the tunnel as they stared at the mountain with growing horror. Harry grimaced.

"Yes, that would be the problem" he said. Bilbo's eyes widened as he realised what he'd done. Harry's eyes darted Northward as he heard another roar, this one was more clear and less echoing. The dragon was out of his kingdom once more.

"Quick! Quick! Into the tunnel! Now!" he shouted. The dwarves did not dare disobey and as it was they all would have perished had they not followed Harry through the door and into the tunnel. For as soon as the door was pushed almost too the great heat and destruction which the dragon's flame wrought was cast onto the mountainside. Flames escaped through the little crack of the door and scorched those nearest to it. The cries of pain from the dwarves affected were not heard over the fury of the dragon. Finally, but only once the dragon had search the entire mountain-side through the night and most of the next day, did Smaug stop his hunt and returned to his treasure room to rest again. In this time the group had sneaked further down the passage and lay hidden. There was no way they could risk going back out until they were sure that Smaug was not there.

Eventually no more roaring or flying could be heard and the company relaxed a bit more. Harry came to realise how stupid and naive he'd been when he'd thought about dealing with the dragon. Had years of fighting and countless perils had he not known that you should never underestimate an enemy. After Harry had healed the various wounds among the dwarves they group started talking about the subject of how they were going to get rid of Smaug.

"Everything has a weakness, what Smaug's is we do not yet know, so I suggest that one or two of us go back down to the hall of treasure and scout out the dragon again" Harry said at last after long conversations which lasted throughout the evening and the night.

Immediately all eyes turned on the hobbit again, who was ready to argue once more. Harry stepped in though before he could.

"I will go Bilbo, it is your choice whether you accompany me now that you have seen what lays before us. It appears that no one here is willing to be within 100 feet of the dragon." he said with a look to the rest of the company who had the grace to look sheepish. Harry turned and made to leave but Bilbo stopped him.

"I will go with you, it is the least I can do for you saving my life on the way back from the dragon's lair, I doubt I would have made it if not for your speed in getting us out." the hobbit said. Harry smiled warmly at Bilbo. Thorin chose this moment to talk.

"Indeed, we would all be in a lot of trouble right now if it weren't for you Mr Potter, should you find Smaug's weakness on this trip then your share in the treasure will rise significantly, you can be sure of that" he said. Harry was about to protest but Thorin stopped him. "No buts, it would infringe upon my honour to give you any less than you deserve, and I would be mightily insulted if you were to refuse my generosity now." Harry gaped for a second before nodding thankfully, his mind drifting slightly to thoughts of treasure beyond his wildest imagination. He shook himself back to reality and he and Bilbo set off once again towards the dragon's lair. Invisibility cloaks and rings were on, silencing charms in place, wand and sword out respectively.

They reached the treasure hall to, once again, find the dragon sleeping. Peering around quietly Harry made his way slowly into the room. Bilbo, whom had a hang on Harry's cloak to keep from losing him, followed behind. Harry again looked towards the sleeping dragon, who was now only 50 feet from them. He froze when he noticed the thinnest of slits between the dragon's eyelids.

Smaug was not asleep.

He started backing away slowly, he knew it was a long shot as the dragon would surely have smelt them coming in. This theory was confirmed when the dragon lifted its head up and opened its jaws. Harry had his wand ready to throw up the biggest shield he knew in order to keep back the flames that were sure to come. Therefore he almost fell over when it wasn't flames which came out of the beast's mouth, but words.

"Well thief, or should I say thieves! I smell you and I feel your air. I hear your breath. Come along! Help yourself again, there is plenty and to spare!"

Harry cancelled the silencing charm on himself and Bilbo, they would have to talk their way out of this. And somehow, he thought, Bilbo would be more versed in dragon lore than himself. As it turned out, he was.

"No thank you, O Smaug the Tremendous!" Bilbo said. "I did not come for presents. I only wished to have a look at you and see if you were truly as great as tales say. I did not believe them" Harry turned to where Bilbo was and looked at him as if he were mad.

"Do you now?" Smaug replied. Harry was shocked to see that he appeared slightly flattered. Catching on he decided to add his worth.

"Oh indeed and it seems that the tales and songs speak true, if not fall utterly short of the reality. O Smaug the chiefest and Greatest of Calamities" he said.

"Such nice manners for thieves and liar," replied Smaug, "you seem familiar with my name yet I do not remember smelling the likes of you before. New smells that aren't dwarf or ash intrigue me, and yet here are two more. Tell me, who are you and where do you come from?"

Harry took the lead again "I am from lands far from here, the like of which you do not know in this day and age. I am he who has travel further than most and he who astounds and amazes" He knew he was bragging somewhat but every moment he caught Smaug's attention was a moment that they weren't eaten or burnt to a crisp. Bilbo talked next.

"And I come from under the hills, under the hills and over the hills my paths led, and through the air. I am he who walks unseen. I am the clue-finder, the web-cutter, the stinging fly. I was chosen for the lucky number." he said. Smaug sneered

"Lovely titles, but lucky numbers don't always come off and I should know what astounds and amazes, and you, I can assure you, are not capable of that" he said. Harry frowned.

"I am the miracle-worker, the orc-slayer and the Warg-killer. Many things I can do which have not yet been seen" he said. He knew it was rash but this way Smaug would become even more intrigued. It worked. A little too well.

"Surely this cannot be the wandering wizard who I have heard so much yet so little about? The wizard who appeared from no where in the middle of an elvish settlement?" he said with what appeared to be glee. Harry felt like hitting himself, now surely Smaug would know who he was. He began backing away back into the tunnel.

"What about the other one, the clue-finder?" Smaug asked. Bilbo, who had been staring at Harry in shock, replied quickly.

"I am the friend of bears and the guests of Eagles, I am the Ring-winner and Luck-bearer, I am the Barrel-rider" he went on. Harry had to admit the riddles were better than his. Smaug had what must have been the dragon equivalent of a grin on his face when he replied.

"Much better," he said, "though don't let your imagination run away with you." Then he began mumbling to himself, loud enough so both Harry and Bilbo could hear "Yes, yes I thought so last night. Lake-men, some nasty scheme of those miserable tub-trading Lake-men, or I'm a lizard. I haven't been down that was for an age and an age; but I will soon alter that!"

Bringing himself back to the conversation Smaug said loudly "Very well, O Barrel-rider! Wizard! You may walk un-seen but you do not walk all the way, traces of camps I found on my excursions last night, reeking of the smell of dwarves. A piece of advice, don't have more to do with dwarves than you can help! You'll come to a bad end, if you go with such friend, Thief Barrel-rider, Wizard. I don't mind if you go back and tell them so from me. You think you will each get a fair share? Ha. If you get off alive you will be lucky." he finished.

Harry could feel himself hanging off every word the dragon spoke, it was like a spell. A spell! Harry shook his head vigorously. He would not let the retched beast manipulate him into betraying the dwarves. And yet the thought remained, how were the dwarves planning on getting the gold out? They had not seemed too keen on meeting the dragon let alone killing it. Shaking these thoughts off he refocused his attention back on the dragon.

"It was not only gold which brought us here," Bilbo said, "we also come for another thing, Revenge."

Smaug laughed a loud, booming laugh. "Revenge!" he snorted, the scarlet in his eyes lighting the entire hall up like lightning. "Revenge! The King under the Mountain is dead and where are his kin that dare seek revenge? Girion Lord of Dale is dead, and I have eaten his people like a wolf among sheep, and where are his sons' sons that dare approach me? I kill where I wish and none dare resist. My armour is like ten-fold shields, my teeth are swords, my claws spears, the shock of my tail a thunderbolt, my wings a hurricane and I breath death."

"I have always believed," Harry said carefully, "that dragons were softer underneath, especially in the chest area. But I doubt one so fortified as you has thought of that?"

Smaug stopped in his boasting and snapped at Harry "I am armoured above and below with the hardest gems known to Middle Earth, no blade can pierce me! Look, see?" he rolled over onto his back and there glistened his underside, full of rows and rows of diamond. But one area caught Harry's eyes that made him grin.

"Indeed it is truly magnificent, divine I should say!" he replied. The area that he was looking at was a small area on the left side of the dragon's chest, it was bare, devoid of any armoury or protection. Harry longed to attack right then but knew that as soon as he gave his position away Smaug would blast him, and Bilbo into oblivion.

"We should leave you to your slumber, scorching the mountain-side is hard work after all-" Harry said as he backed away towards the door, wand readied. Bilbo jumped in to get the last remark.

"-and so is catching burglars" he said. Harry slashed his wand upwards, the silvery-blue of a shield appearing in front of him as the white-hot fire of Smaug streamed into the tunnel. Hoping the shield would hold in his absence he turned and sprinted up the passage, the sound of Smaug's renewed fury coming from behind. He stopped dead when he heard what was unmistakeably the dragon's voice call from behind him.

"So the Boy-Who-Lived is a coward and a thief, I will catch you, there are a lot of people vying for your head, one of them that you know very well Harry Potter!"

AN: Another chapter! *gasp* I am quite proud of the ending as well and I hope you enjoyed it too. Just to let you know the full amount of Harry's share is going to be discussed in the next chapter which should be up fairly soon. Hope you enjoyed that chapter and I'll see you later! BYE!


	17. Defender of Lake-town

Chapter 16 - Defender of Lake-town

Harry did not dare breath as stomps of rage and anger from behind him echoed across the walls of the tunnel around him. His eyes wide and his mouth agape. Never in his wildest imagination had he expected to hear that name again, indeed he had not heard it nor spoken it since before he had arrived in Middle Earth. Not even to Dee had he mentioned his past or this name. The moniker by which he was introduced to the Wizarding World under, the bane of his existence during his years at Hogwarts. How had Smaug come to hear of this name?

The encounter with the assassin back in Lake-town came to mind, like then this was wizards work, but when he had been thinking of Sauron or even Saruman he had been thinking about entirely the wrong type of wizard. The only person Harry had known that would ever come into contact with something as evil as Smaug had been Voldemort. But Voldemort was dead, Harry had made sure of that. A whole year spent searching for and retrieving Horcruxes to eventually lead to the madman's demise all those years ago. That meant that it was someone else, maybe one of Riddle's followers somehow travelled to Middle Earth with Harry. But he would have known about something like that. Wouldn't he?

Once he recovered enough composure to begin running again he sprinted back up to where the dwarves and Bilbo were out on the doorstep. Bilbo seemed to be panting but otherwise unhurt. The dwarves were bombarding him with questions. Harry's head meanwhile was abuzz with questions. Who had informed Smaug of his past identity? What was Smaug up to now? Why was it so quiet?

And indeed it was quiet, somewhere during Harry's run from the dark depths of the tunnel to the outside world all sound made by the dragon had ceased. This worried Harry a lot more than the sounds of Smaug's rage ever could. If they could here him then they would know how far away he was and what he was doing, but now they were blind. Smaug could descend on them any second and they were unprepared.

A gust of wind was all the warning Harry needed.

"Run! This silence is worse than noise, back into the tunnel!" he shouted. The dwarves looked up at him in worry. "NOW!" Harry ordered louder. The dwarves did not dare to disobey and so it was that they were again descending into the tunnel. All except for Harry who was staring away to the west. Bilbo looked at Harry urgently.

"Hurry up Harry! What are you waiting for?" he asked. Harry turned back to him with a grim look.

"I have an idea of what Smaug will do when he cannot get to you, he will turn on Lake-town and I will not let innocent people die because of us" he replied. Bilbo looked like he was going to protest, but Harry cut across him "Go! And close the door behind you!"

Harry turned back to his watch, he would defend the company for all he was worth. He had enraged the dragon and he would be the one to deal with the consequences.

The dragon came swiftly and quickly. Harry snapped his wand from left to right yelling "_Protego Maxima_"! The shimmering form of his shield appeared in front of him. This would only hold for so long, maybe not even after one blow from the dragon's tail. Just as he was about to throw an offensive spell at the approaching dragon he heard the voice of Eru once again in his head.

'You will know what to do'

And he did, he hadn't the foggiest idea how he knew but he knew. Like in the forest and during his fight against Bolg and his orcs everything began to move in slow motion. The dragon had spotted him and was opening his jaws to unleash a torrent of flame upon him, Harry put his wand arm high in the air, a bright ball of lightning blue forming around the end of it. His hand clamped in a fist tightly around the handle of his wand he brought his fist down and smashed it into the ground with the force of a large scale earthquake.

Light exploded from the tip of his wand and instead of the blue which had been there previously a golden dome burst forth and surrounded not only Harry but the closed door behind him. This dome was not an ordinary shield, this was a shield that came form the powers of the Valar themselves. It was called the "_Scutem Deorum_" or the "Shield of the Gods". None had ever had an adequate supply of power to perform it in the mortal realm before, this was because it not only drained a significant amount of magic from a wizard's core but also gains enough strength to perform properly from the caster's will to fight. No mortals as yet had not only had a strong enough core but a sufficient will to fight so as to make the shield work. But as Harry had literally been gifted by the Gods he had more than enough power and thanks to his legendary stubbornness and will to defeat all evil he had the will as well.

Just as Harry performed this almighty piece of magic, Smaug's assault started. He pounded and pounded the shield, believing that it would crumple under his mighty strength, and yet the dome did not fall, in fact there wasn't so much as a scratch on it. No matter how much fire he breathed, no matter how many times he swung his gargantuan tail, and no matter how many times he attacked with renewed vigour the shield would not budge.

Inside the shield a few beads of sweat appeared on Harry's forehead. He looked up towards the raging dragon. His eyes, though he did not know it, were glowing bright green as he stared defiantly up at the beast. Somewhere in the back of his mind he was wondering where he knew this kind of magic from, but his instincts took over and he concentrated on keeping the dragon at bay.

Eventually the dragon stopped pounding the shield, deeming it futile. He could not get to the thieves for now, but they would not be able to keep him out forever. Now was a time to deal with the pesky men of Lake-town, the wizard would undoubtedly rush to the men's aid and so leaving his fellows unprotected, that would be when he would strike. He had not believed the cloaked figure when he had informed him years ago that one day a wizard of considerable power would come and try to dethrone him, but his opinions had changed. Anything that could keep him out for a time was worthy of his attention. Smaug flew high up into the air and turned westwards towards the long lake. His teeth shone in the light of day and his fury filled the surrounding area in a dark aura. Oh yes he would have his vengeance on Lake-town and the thieves.

Harry watched as the dragon ceased it's assault and glared at him, his face twisted into grin, but it came out more like a grimace. He saw Smaug fly up high and then turn towards the lake. Harry grimaced again, he'd have to aide the Lake-men. When the dragon was a considerable distance away he dropped the shield, panting. Looking down at his wand he saw a purple aura surrounding it, pocketing it for a second he was shocked to see that the aura remained around not only his right hand but also his left. What shocked him more was the little bolts of lightning crackling between his fingers. He felt power surging through him, and it was intoxicating. He had never felt this level of power before, he smiled. Time to have some fun. Twisting on the spot he did something which he had not been able to do on the way to the mountain, he apparated into the centre of Lake-town.

People around him jumped away with cries of surprise but Harry paid them no heed. He needed to warn the Master of the town, not that he thought that he would do anything, but he needed to warn someone. As he raced through the streets towards the town hall in which the Master resided he saw out of the corner of his eye people pointing at the mountain in wide-eyed awe. That was not good, it meant that Smaug was within sight.

Up the wooden steps he raced and into the main hall. He was about to call for someone when he saw a grim looking man and the Master himself talking. The two looked towards Harry and he decided to get straight to the point.

"Brace yourselves, there's a dragon coming" he said simply. The Master stared at him wide-eyed whereas the grim-faced man nodded in resignation.

"I will assemble all able archers to the edge of town," he said before addressing Harry, "I don't know who you are but are you any use with a bow?" Harry grinned slightly.

"I am competent but I have something else in mind, Harry Potter pleased to meet you" he said, extending a hand. The only indication that the man knew of Harry was a slight widening of his eyes before he grabbed Harry's hand firmly.

"Around here they call me Bard, now, let's slay us a dragon!" he said. Harry nodded and they both rushed out leaving a dumbstruck Master behind.

When they got out onto the streets Harry barely had to think the word 'Sonorus' before his voice was magnified ten-times. He bellowed.

"EVERYONE, ARM YOURSELVES, THE DRAGON IS COMING!" This sent everyone into a panic as the shape of the dragon grew clearer and clearer with every passing second. Harry wished he could go and meet it but he did not have his broom, it was broken months ago in the company's encounter with Wargs. To his immense surprise and pleasure said Firebolt appeared before his very eyes. Grabbing the handle he swung his leg over just in time for the first fiery blast from the enraged dragon. Lifting off from the ground he saw the beast zooming in. Pointing his palm towards the dragon he said the words "_Sionis Erinys_". The black beam of light that shot from his hand and towards the dragon was strong enough to blast some of the jewels from the back of the beast, but this was enough as it gave the archers firing from below more targets to aim at. Harry looked down at the town to see it catching fire rapidly, diving down he blasted the growing inferno with ice-cold water, all whilst Smaug roared with anger at having some of his precious armour destroyed. The bridges going into the town from the bank had been cut and the town was now an island. This angered the dragon more as it could not reach the town to deal destruction with his mighty tail.

And so he had to take to the air, arrows bouncing harmlessly from his armour, even though some of it was being blown away by Harry's spells. Harry was alarmed to see that the arrows were growing faint as the men ran out. He saw Bard with a thrush on his shoulder who looked like it was talking to him. Bard the drew what must have been his last arrow but this one was pitch black. He saw Bard draw it and fire it at the exposed left side chest of Smaug. The arrow flew fast, straight and true, it hit it's target and Smaug roared in pain but he did not fall. Harry's eyes widened as the dragon turned to him, probably in his mind the only one who could cause any sort of harm to dragon as strong and fortified as him. Smaug flew head on towards Harry, who in turn clenched his wandless hand into a fist where power gathered.

He flew his broom towards the oncoming dragon as fast as he could make it move. He drew his arm back, and right before impact he threw the arm forward and drove his fist straight into Smaug's nose. The resulting shockwave could be felt for miles around. The result of this was that many things happened at once.

The dragon was thrown about 500 metres back towards the mountain where he landed with an earth-shattering thud on the hilly bank. The lake-men and women were blown off of their feet and all of the people trying to escape by boat were tipped into the lake. Harry had crashed, broomstick and all, into the floating town and was currently trying to stand up.

Harry, once he had regained his bearings and knew which way was up, stood carefully. Looking over to where the dragon must have fallen he stared wide-eyed. The dragon was a broken mess, bones stuck out here and there and there was the hole on his left chest where the arrow had pierced it. But what really caught Harry's attention was the mess that was previously its face. Harry must have punched it harder than he realised, the snout which once breathed flame onto the surrounding area looked like it had imploded. Harry scrunched up his nose, this would most certainly get him some unwanted attention.

Shaken from his musings by the sound of groans he looked around. He then realised that the groans were coming from the people of Lake-town. Springing into action he rushed around helping people up and doing what he could to heal injuries, which was actually quite a lot. Finally he got to Bard who, luckily, had little more than a few cuts and bruises. Once everyone had recovered they began to notice the corpse of the dragon. They gaped at it, then almost as one they turned t Harry. Even Bard was staring wide-eyed at the wizard.

Harry smiled slightly at them.

"Oops" he said sheepishly.

This snapped them out of their stupor and the cheers and clapping began. Harry, despite himself, turned slightly red at the attention. Bard smiled slightly at him and nodded respectfully, Harry smiled back and returned the nod. A little boy broke free from the crowd and ran up to Harry. Said wizard raised an eyebrow at him.

"That was so cool!" he said, to much laughter from all sides. Harry smiled at the kid.

"Thank you little one," he said "but you must give some credit to Bard here, without his assistance I doubt that I would have been able to accomplish the task" he grinned over at the bowman who scowled when everyone started thanking and congratulating him instead.

Soon though the celebration sizzled down and the complaints began. First they were against the Master who, Harry noticed, was no where to be found. He caught snippets of conversation.

"He's got a good head for business, especially his own business-"

"But he is no good when anything serious happens."

Soon they began to call for Harry and Bard to lead them in rebuilding what was left of their town. Shouts of "King Bard!" or "King Potter!" were heard throughout the crowd. There had been losses for sure, but thanks to Harry not nearly as many as there would have been. Just when Bard seemed ready to respond to the cheers the Master returned to his town.

"Girion, from whom Bard descends from, was King of Dale, not king of Esgaroth (Lake-town's traditional name as Harry had found out during his stay previously)" he said loudly. "In Lake-town we have always elected masters from among the old and wise and have not endured the rule of mere fighting men! Let 'King Bard' go back to his own kingdom - Dale is now free by his and Mr Potter's valour, and nothing hinders his return. Any that wish to go with him, if they prefer the cold stones under the shadow of the mountain to the green shores of the lake. The wise will stay here and hope to rebuild our town, and enjoy again in time its peace and riches."

Here he turned on Harry "And as for Mr Potter he is not even from this part of Middle Earth, he is an outsider, a wanderer, who does not belong with us hard-working folk. Follow him if you must but remember he will not always be around to get you out of trouble!" Harry frowned at the man. This was the same man who had greeted him so warmly when he had arrived in the company of Thorin Oakenshield. He was about to respond when the crowd did it for him. Cries of outrage and anger came directed at the Master.

"We will have King Bard/Potter!" the people shouted. "We have had enough of the old men and the money-counters!" People nearer the back of the crowd started to chant "Up the Bowman and Wizards, and down with Moneybags," till the clamour echoed around the towns. The Master grew red in the face.

"But why? Why is all the blame being directed at me?" He spoke loudly and clearly this time "For what fault am I to be deposed? Who aroused the dragon from his slumber, I might ask? Who obtained of us rich gifts and ample help, and led us to believe that old songs could come true? Who played on our soft hearts and pleasant fancies? What sort of gold have the sent down the river to reward us? Dragon-fire and ruin? I say that they did this deliberately so that we could deal with the dragon whilst they sit upon their thrones with the wealth of Thror around them!" he finished loudly. Harry grimaced, the Master would have made a good politcian, he thought.

The crowd stopped calling for a new King and turned their angry thoughts towards Thorin and his company. Harry had to try and control the situation.

"What good will it do turning on those who could be your allies? I can assure you that the company never meant you to suffer the consequences of their actions, I know that I certainly didn't." here he gestured around. "Besides, you have a home still and if you were to follow me and Bard," he looked towards the man for confirmation, Bard nodded "then you will have an even grander home in the rebuilt city of Dale. Riches beyond comprehension will be provided if you ally yourselves with the dwarves, I am quite sure of that. The questions remain, do you want to live under the rule of a spineless, money-grabbing man like him? Or do you want to live the lives of royalty, free to trade and live how you wish?" The crowd around him cheered and shouted at this. Harry then turned to Bard.

"Now would be as good a time as any to travel to Dale and start rebuilding. I will go and speak to Thorin about the events here and the planned compensation, I will personally pay a bit of money towards rebuilding as this was partly my fault as well." he said. Bard thought for a moment before replying.

"If there is nothing that can be done here and we have enough people willing to come with me to Dale then I see no reason not to start as early as possible" he said. Harry nodded.

"Then we will gather anyone who wishes to join us" he proclaimed. They set off in separate directions, gathering up the people who would be joining them.

The next few days were spent gathering the supplies needed to rebuild the once great city of Dale. Most of the 5000 people who had been living in Lake-town were relocating to Dale. Craftsmen, tradesmen, fighters, women, children and all the rest in between. Harry enjoyed the thought that Dale would soon be built anew with even stronger protection and even greater wealth than before Smaug turned up.

Without his knowledge Bard had sent requests for aid in rebuilding Dale. The Wood Elves were first to receive news and, as they had been heading towards the mountain anyway once they caught wind of Smaug's death, turned towards Lake-town where they sent down supplies via the river.

And thus it was a very surprised Harry who, 5 days after the defeat of the dragon, awoke to hundreds of elves including Thranduil himself marching across the newly rebuilt bridges into the streets of Lake-town. He went to greet the Elven-king who shook his hand.

"Long time no see" Harry said with a small smile. The king smiled back.

"Indeed, I do believe in my dungeons with you climbing into a barrel was the last time I saw you. I hear you have been busy since then" he said. Harry sighed.

"I did not realise that news would spread this quickly" he replied. Thranduil scoffed.

"I would be surprised if the new has not reached Imladris by now" he said. Harry froze.

"So, would that mean that the goblins of the Misty Mountains and the orcs will have heard?" he asked carefully. The king frowned.

"I would have thought so" he said. Harry cursed.

"Then we do not have much time until trouble descends on us, they will no doubt believe that the treasure of Thror now lays unprotected in the halls of the mountain. They will want it for themselves. We are not out of trouble yet" he said. In all of the preparation to head for Dale Harry had not had the chance to visit the company and explain the situation yet. Not waiting for a reply from Thranduil he apparated to the Front Gate of the Mountain. He blinked. There was a hustle and bustle around the place as a wall seemed to be being built behind the back entrance. It was young in construction and so Harry could still get through it.

"Thorin?" he called loudly. The hustle and bustle stopped and everyone turned towards him. Cheers erupted again from the company, delighted as they were to see their 15th companion back with them.

"Harry!" Thorin shouted happily when he saw him. "Welcome back my friend! It seems we have underestimated you, killing Smaug almost unaided, your share will definitely be at least 1/15th now, no arguing. What news do you bring with you from Lake-town? We have only had the tidings of ravens so far."

"Why are you building a wall then if you know what is happening?" Harry asked carefully, a knot of doubt forming in the pit of his stomach.

"To keep out people who want our treasure of course, elves we hear are close to reaching Lake-town and are going to join with the Lake-men to march on the mountain" Thorin said matter-of-factly. Harry gaped.

"Well you information is woefully misinterpreted then my friend, me and Bard the bowman have been gathering supplies and people to rebuild Dale to its former magnificence, I have said to them that an alliance with you would allow them to live great lives of riches and splendour. We owe them that much for setting the dragon loose on them" Harry said. Thorin's cheerful attitude changed completely and he burst out in anger.

"Why on this good Earth would you tell them that? What right do they have to some of our treasure when you were the one who defeated the dragon?" he exclaimed. Harry frowned.

"They lost many people and a lot of their houses are severely damaged. They expect compensation as they are well within their rights to" Harry replied. Thorin glared at him.

"So you have joined them, after everything we have done for you, letting you join the quest, offering you riches beyond your wildest dreams you throw it back in our faces?" he said bitterly. The other dwarves looked uncomfortable but no one was stepping out against Thorin, in fact Bilbo looked the closest to coming to Harry's defence. Harry caught the hobbit's eye and gave a subtle shake of the head. Bilbo needed no part in this.

"I am doing what is right Thorin, surely you cannot say that you are going to keep the vast wealth of Thror between fourteen of you? It would be enough to turn anyone's head. If you insist on keeping such a fortune then why not lend money to the Lake-men and continue to trade with them. With no allies then you will never be able to live comfortably. Who will aid you when you are attacked?" Harry said challengingly to Thorin. This was what he had feared when he and Thorin had talked back in Lake-town all those weeks ago.

"I have sent word to Dain of the Iron-hills and he and his people are coming to help us rebuild and repopulate, we need not ally ourselves with thieves and traitors. Be gone Mr Potter, from now on you are no longer welcome in the halls of my forefathers." Thorin said. The others around them gasped, but Harry had been expecting it. Turning to leave he looked once more at the new King under the Mountain.

"Your greed will be the end of you Thorin Oakenshield, I guarantee you that" and with that said he apparated away.

AN: That was a long chapter, thank you for reading and for your nice reviews. Your reviews help give me the motivation to keep reading. I hope you enjoyed the first look at Super!Harry, sorry it took so freaking long to actually make him super but nothing that has happened so far has warranted any particularly stunning action. Hope you enjoyed this chapter and if you have any suggestions about the plot of this then let me know, I already have a general idea about where it is going to go which I am quite excited about. But I am always open to new ideas. Thanks for reading, BYEEEE!


	18. A Battle is Brewing

AN: Hey guys, sorry this chapter took so long I had a bit of trouble with writers block again. Hope you enjoy this chapter and I'll see you next time!

Chapter 17 - A Battle is brewing

Harry appeared in the centre of Lake-town, cursing about the stubbornness and greed of dwarves. Running a hand through he hair he wondered if this was truly the end of any sort of companionship that he and the company had shared.

'No, this was all Thorin's doing, the others had little choice in the matter' he thought too himself. Spotting Bard on the steps leading up to the town hall he walked over to him. The bowman was conversing with Thranduil.

"I am terribly sorry for leaving so suddenly your highness" he said with a bow, "but I needed to take care of some pressing business" Thranduil waved him off.

"Do not worry my friend, I am sure you had good cause for disappearing so suddenly" he replied, Harry smiled slightly. Bard then addressed Harry.

"So, are the dwarves willing to contribute to the rebuilding of Dale?" he asked. Harry grimaced.

"Thorin…" he began, "is not all too keen on sharing the wealth of his ancestors with the men of the Lake" he finished with a sigh.

"But you said that they would, I do not understand." Bard replied, hints of anger appearing. Harry sighed again.

"The sight of his newfound wealth has distorted his thinking, so much so that when I informed him of my offer of financial help to you he branded me a traitor and banned me from Erebor" he said. Bard grew even more angry at this.

"He has the nerve to think that he can just turn his back on the innocent people who he almost caused the death of, and then he has the audacity to label a traitor of the only one capable of defending his kingdom from outside invaders? The nerve of him" he raged. "There is but one thing we can do now, if he refuses to pay us for our troubles then we must forcibly take our compensation!" he exclaimed. Harry's eyes widened.

"Do you really think that is necessary Bard?" he said. "I am sure that if you reasoned with Thorin you might get him to listen" he said desperately. No matter how angry he was at Thorin and the company he did not want more violence to happen.

"You have already tried to reason with him and he has proved that dwarves stubbornness linked with their love of gold make his opinion nigh unmoveable" Bard replied. Yet again Harry ran a hand through his hair. There must be some way that he could convince Bard that diplomacy was the best way to go. Whilst he was thinking though he never noticed Bard move past him and speak to the gathered citizens.

"People of Lake-town, it seems that the ones responsible for unleashing the dragon upon us has decided not to help us rebuild the great city of Dale" he said loudly to the gathered crowd. There were many shouts of outrage and indignation. Harry, hearing the shouts, snapped out of his thoughts and turned towards the noise. He was just in time to here Bard say.

"We have heard stories about the colossal wealth under the mountain and since we were responsible for slaying the dragon which guarded it I say we deserve at least a share of it. If Thorin Oakenshield will not grant us this wish then we shall take it forcibly!" Many shouts and cheers of agreement met this statement. Harry could only look on with growing horror. It would have been hard to sway Bard, but now that word had gotten around it would be virtually impossible. The prospect of a battle brought Harry's attention back to the problem he had originally sought Thorin out for. His eyes widened as he made his way next to Bard.

"Attention everyone," he shouted, when the shouting didn't stop he pulled out his wand and whispered "Sonorus"

"Attention everyone!" he said with his voice magnified. The shouting stopped and the people turned to him. He cleared his throat. "I understand your desire for compensation, but first we must aide in the coming fight" he said. Bard turned to him.

"What fight? The only fight we are getting into is one with the dwarves!" he said. Harry ignored him.

"At this very moment Orcs and Wargs are gathering and readying an assault on the mountain which they see as undefended. If the dark creatures of this world take possession of that treasure then there will be none of it for any of us." he said to the masses. "This is why we must make for Dale immediately and fortify it as much as possible. We will make our base there and be prepared for whatever force arrives." He turned to Thranduil. "I hope that our elven friends will join us in driving back the forces of darkness?" He received a nod from Thranduil. Turning back to his captivated audience he said "Evil will only sit idle for so long, Smaug would have emerged eventually to wreak havoc on your town and most likely kill all of you, the only thing the dwarves did was provide you with a way to fight the dragon, me. And now everyone wants to go rushing off to fight an unnecessary battle with potential allies whilst the real enemy descends upon us waiting to strike when we are weakest."

"I say that we move to Dale immediately and make our stand there, with my magic and Bard's bowmen the forces of evil will not know what hit them" Harry continued "Now, who is willing to defend their homeland and their livelihood?" A great cheer met Harry's last statement as the various assigned leaders took their cue and began leading the different groups of people on the long trek to Dale. Harry nodded in satisfaction. He turned to Bard, who was surveying the scene with grim determination, and Thranduil who was observing calmly.

"I need to know that you are with me on this one" Harry said to Bard. The man said nothing but nodded his head slightly. Harry's mouth twitched. Bard reminded him a Mad-Eye Moody somewhat, the firm grasp on reality was a trait they both shared. "I thank you Thranduil, you help will greatly appreciated by all of us." Harry said to the elven-king who smiled slightly.  
"You are welcome Mr Potter, too long has evil roamed this world unchallenged by me or my kin. It is time that something was done" Thranduil replied, he then walked off in the direction of his people to organise them.

"I hope you don't mind travelling with everyone else whilst I go ahead and try and get the place in some sort of order" Harry said to Bard. Bard nodded and with that Harry disappeared with a small pop.

He reappeared on the outskirts of the city of Dale. Looking around he grimaced. Yet again the sheer destruction that overwhelmed him was frightening. He walked in through the main gates, the sight that greeted him when he was inside was horrific. Charred bodies lay everywhere, the stench of death filled Harry's nostrils. It seemed Smaug hadn't eaten everyone on his rampage. A quick wave of his wand freshened the air. He was hesitant to simply vanish the bodies. To do so, Harry felt, would dishonour them.

Frowning for a second, he lifted his wand and slashed it diagonally. All the bodies in sight disappeared. He had sent them to a cave nearby which he had spotted when he, Bilbo and Balin had scouted out the Front Gate. He would give them a proper service when the current problem had been dealt with.

And so he set about cleaning the place up. Nothing too drastic, the fixes were only temporary as he did not exactly have the design skill or the time to make each and every building look good. Soon, after a few days of walking around fixing the essentials he came across a building with a burnt sign on the front. Harry could just make out the word 'Armoury'. Pushing past the broken wooden door he came across one of the biggest weapons store he had ever seen. Rows upon rows of swords, bows, arrows, armour, the lot. Harry smiled, albeit a slightly sad smile. If this was the size of its armoury he could only imagine what the city must have been like before the dragon. Nevertheless this sort of equipment would definitely be useful. He picked up one of the bows that looked particularly well made and an arrow. He had never really learnt how to use a bow properly during his time in Middle Earth, he hadn't seen the need to when magic was perfectly capable. But maybe now, with hundreds if not thousands of dark creatures approaching, was a good time to learn.

Drawing the arrow back he aimed for one of the helmets hanging on a wall about 15 metres away from him. He looked down the arrow and fired. The arrow flew quickly but missed by a couple of feet. He frowned. Maybe he would need to work on it a bit more.

His stomach grumbled loudly. Only now did he realise how hungry he was. It must have been awhile since he had last eaten. Quickly conjuring a plate and a pile sandwiches he strolled back into cobbled streets. He thought about starting work on the defences but whilst he was good in battle, he was a terrible strategist. That was always Ron's area of expertise. No, he would leave arranging the new fortifications to people who knew what they were doing, they would plan and he would help build. Looking around Harry, now satisfied that he wouldn't be starving any time soon, nodded to himself. This was all he could do for now. He disappeared with a pop.

He reappeared once again at the Front Gate of Erebor. It seemed that the wall the company had been working to cover the entrance last time he was there was complete. There was no visible entrance but luckily Harry had already been in when he had argued with Thorin. He apperated again about 15 feet in front of where he had been before. Looking around he saw that the entrance hall was quite well lit. Harry couldn't see any sign of the company, he did however hear loud chattering coming from a hall to the left. Cautiously walking over to the big oak door he stopped. That was definitely dwarvish laughter. He smiled sadly to himself.

Harry didn't exactly know why he was here, hadn't Thorin made it quite clear that he wasn't welcome anymore? Against his better judgement he slowly pushed open the door and poked his head in.

It was a big hall, not as big was the treasure room be big nonetheless. There was a great arched ceiling that reminded him vaguely of the Great Hall in Hogwarts, in the middle of the room was a long table laden with food of all kinds. Around the table sat laughing and happy looking dwarves. Bilbo, and surprisingly Thorin Harry noticed, weren't looking quite as happy. Thorin had a deep frown on his face as he observed the hall. Bilbo seemed to be wringing his hands nervously. Harry snorted when he saw Bombur fall back off of his chair and onto the floor. He had apparently misjudged how loud he was being as Bilbo's head snapped to the door. His eyes widened and before Harry could tell him to be quiet he shouted.

"Harry!"

This got everyone else's attention and soon every eye in the room was on him. Harry grimaced and walked into the room. Silence reigned now upon the previously raucous group. Harry saw no contempt in anyone's faces, but wariness. Thorin however was openly glaring at him. Harry matched his gaze.

"What brings you here wizard?" Thorin asked sarcastically "I thought I made myself clear when I proclaimed you unwelcome in the kingdom of my ancestors"

"Indeed you did Thorin Oakenshield, I only come to warn you of an incoming invasion" Harry said cooly. He noticed a few flinches at his tone.

"Was that not the reason for our dispute in the first place?" Thorin returned. Harry sighed.

"I maintain my stance that the men of Lake-town are not your enemies unless you want them to be. I am in fact talking about the legion of orcs marching towards the mountain intent on taking it for their own." he said. Thorin continued to glare.

"I am aware of this, that I why I have called for help from the dwarves of the Iron-hills. Dain and his people are also travelling here. We do not need your help anymore." he spat. Then he signalled for Dwalin, Bifur and Bofur. The three nodded and went out of the hall. Harry wondered where they were going but thought best not to ask. Instead he turned to Bilbo who was looking at him with what looked like relief. He smiled at the hobbit.

"How are you Bilbo?" he asked. Bilbo smiled tiredly at him.

"I am tired but comfortable, if that makes sense. What have you been up to Harry?" he replied.

"I have been organising the Lake-men to return to Dale which is due to be rebuilt, though the coming battle has put a spanner in the works." Harry said. Conversation with Bilbo went smoothly from then as the other dwarves began speaking as well. Harry learnt, among other things, that the dwarves of the Iron-hills were the largest population of dwarfs since the fall of Erebor.

Finally the door to the hall opened again and Dwalin, Bifur and Bofur entrered again carrying sacks upon sacks of what could only be treasure. Each dwarves had at least 3 man-sized sacks each. It was no wonder the three strongest dwarves after Thorin had been sent to retrieve the load.

"What is all that?" Harry asked. Thorin sniffed.

"That is your share, I am a dwarf of my word Mr Potter" Thorin said proudly. Harry was tempted to point out that he had also said that he was provide support for Lake-town but wisely held his tongue.

"I had no doubt that you would keep your word Thorin Oakenshield and I thank you for it" he replied. Harry took out his wand and flicked it towards the bags which shrunk accordingly, another flick and they were floating into his pockets. He said his goodbyes to the company which they all returned, except for Thorin who had marched off. Bilbo looked a little hesitant to say goodbye and Harry felt sorry for the hobbit.

"You are more than welcome to join me if you no longer feel welcome here Bilbo" he said quietly so that the others couldn't hear. Bilbo looked uncertain.

"It's not that I feel unwelcome, its that I feel that I have done my part, should I not be allowed some peace now" he said. Harry smiled sadly at him.

"I trust that you will find peace again one day soon Bilbo, I would transport you myself would it not drain me of energy which I need at the moment. You are staying then?" he asked. Bilbo thought for a second.

"For now yes" he answered. Harry nodded and after one more goodbye he turned on the spot. This form of apparating he had tried only a few times before. Instead of apparating to a place Harry was trying to apparate to a person. It required double the amount of concentration and will power than for normal apparition. Luckily Harry had plenty of each.

The pop he made when he reappeared was small but still enough to make Bard jump. Harry chuckled at the surprised look on Bard's face. This quickly changed to a glare.

"I do not know what you find so amusing Mr Potter" he said gruffly. Harry grinned.

"Oh just that fact that I can make a tough man like you jump out of your skin" he said. Bard grumbled something about 'stupid wizards and their lack of respect' whilst Harry watched on amused. It was the he looked around, the large group of people walked in a line, some carrying supplies on their backs, some with ponies which were laden with goods and some who even had children in their arms. Harry looked over the group and saw what was probably the valley of Dale in the distance. They were closer than he had thought. He then looked at the faces of the people and saw that they looked extremely tired. This led to him wandering around and putting featherweight charms on nearly everything. He was greeted warmly by the people he helped and thanked considerably.

With their loads lightened morale seemed to be climbing again from an obvious low. Harry made conversation with Thranduil and Bard as he walked. Eventually, when it was starting to get dark, they arrived in the city of Dale. Harry had, a day or so ago sorted out the living arrangements, there was enough houses for one each but with many families travelling together there was more than enough space for everyone o settle comfortably, at least until everything was up an running.

"Alright," Harry said loudly to the crowd who listened with rapt attention "this is the housing district of Dale. There is enough for one house each but as many of you have brought families you should stay together. Thranduil has kindly offered his elves' services in settling everyone in. Anyone who wishes to help repair the defences can stay and the rest of you go with the elves and find yourselves a suitable house to claim for yourselves." Around half of the crowd went off with the elves to get settled in, the remaining group consisted mainly of men but there were quite a few women as well there. Harry also spotted a few teens in the mix but that was all he could glimpse as Bard started organising different groups to go and build up the walls surrounding the western side of Dale. Even Harry understood this to be wise as the brunt of the enemy would come from Mirkwood and the Misty Mountains.

Three days went by and with help from Harry the walls were looking strong. Everyone had settled in rather well, there was even some trading going on. This pleased Harry to see, it proved that the people were ready to begin their new lives in Dale, having lived on the lake for so long.

It was on the fourth day that they heard it.

The distant bang of drums.

THUMP! THUMP!

Harry's eyes narrowed. He turned towards the city from his place atop the wall.

"_Sonorus_" he said. "Sound the Horns! The enemy is approaching!" his voice boomed across the city. People only stopped for a second before rushing off to their stations. Horns like trumpets sounded from the centre of Dale. Elven archers stationed themselves all along the western wall. Harry was staring to the west, a muttered incantation and he could spot a fly a mile away. He could see the army approaching. He heard the howls of the Wargs and the shouts of the orcs. But the sound he heard next chilled him to his very bones.

"Harry Potter, we meet again" came to cool, echoing voice which sent shivers down Harry's spine. His eyes widened. It could not be, not here, not now.

"You seem surprised to see me," came to voice again. To Harry it sounded like Voldemort, yet it held so much more power in it. "Speaking of surprises, you haven't been reading your mail have you Harry" his name came as a hiss. Harry was momentarily confused. Mail? But then he remembered.

The letter.

The letter from Dee.

He had completely forgotten. Fishing into his pocket he pulled out the envelope and ripped it open. The paper said one thing but it made his blood turn to ice.

_Harry_,

_Surprise_.

_Dee_.

Harry looked up towards the advancing army. In the middle he saw 2 prominent figures. One was cloaked in black but moved with grace. The other was more familiar. Wide, glassy eyes stared back at him. The small smile on her beautiful face only confirmed it. When Harry spoke it was in a very quiet whisper.

"Dee"


End file.
